06/02/2006

Screened in World Première at the Rotterdam Festival, Langer licht [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: David Lammers
interview: Jeroen Beker
film profile] (Northern Light) represented Holland in Official Competition. After acclaimed shorts (The Last day of Alfred Maassen winner of the Golden Calf in 2001 and Veere, the 2005 Tiger Club Award winner), David Lammers has made his first feature.

Set in the suburbs of Amsterdam, this human drama relates the difficult emotional circumstances that separate Lucien (Raymond Thiry) from his son Mitchell (Dai Carter) since the accidental deaths of his wife and daughter. Lucien is a boxing trainer and teaches know-how and self-respect. Mitchell is an adolescent searching for his identity. And both are incapable of finding the right words. At his birthday barbecue, Mitchell tries to get his father’s attention by parading in his dead sister’s tutu. But Lucien only reacts to this appeal with punches. As disappointed with himself as he is with his son, Lucien quits the family home and moves into his gym. How to understand, how to communicate when we can’t find the words?

Through small scenes of daily life, David Lammers constructs a beautiful relationship among the things unsaid between these awfully human characters. Far from the usual greyness, he suffuses his images with light and colour. "I create my story from the environment, the places, the people ", he says. "Except for the more complex roles, I choose people from the neighbourhood." This is something that allows for improvisation and great deal of subtlety at every stage of the film.

Langer licht was produced by Frans van Gestel & Jeroen Beker for Motel Films and will be distributed in March in Holland by 1 More Film.

(Translated from French)