Five Dutch girls take us in the film Cloud Forest on an imaginative journey through the memories and images they have of the histories of their parents and their families’ experiences of the war in the former Yugoslavia. A war which the girls haven’t physically experienced themselves since they were very young when they arrived in The Netherlands. Their experiences are a combination of facts and imaginations, vague memories and detailed impressions, transferred from the parents to their daughters through conversations, listening in, silence and finding information on youtube. Resulting in a scattered image of a conflict, present on the horizon of one's life.
The film is a colorful collage of impressions, allowing the gaps within the narrative of the girls to be present while focussing on their personal reading of historical events. It is in the darkness, in the shadows, lit by mobile phones, where the girls and the audience can imagine and see the events unfold in front of them. While the girls listen back to their own stories, a mechanism similar to listening to a narrative shared by a parent, the viewer is invited to listen along and become part of the intimate spheres of their families and homes.
Selection of festivals:
32 Filmfest Dresden (DE) // Go Short, European Competition, Nijmegen (NL) // Eye on Art, Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam (NL) // Movies that Matter Film Festival, The Hague (NL) // Glasgow Short Film Festival, International Competition, Glasgow // Nederlands Film Festival, Utrecht (NL) // Uppsala International Short Film Festival, International Competition, (SE) // Dokument Film Festival, Glasgow (SCH) // Kassel Dokfest, International Competition (DE) // Eastern Neighbours Film Festival, The Hague (NL)
Cloud Forest is produced by near/by film and distributed by Eye Experimental
The film is kindly supported by Stroom The Hague and The Netherlands Film Fund.
The film is kindly supported by Stroom The Hague and The Netherlands Film Fund.
