HOLLAND
CAN GO THROUGH SKIN
2009 – 35mm – color - 97’
Direction: Esther Rots
Screenplay: Esther Rots
Cinematography: Lennert Hillege
Editing: Esther Rots
Music: Dan Geesin
Costumes: Stephanie Mariën
Cast: Rifka Lodeizen, Wim Opbrouck, Chris Borowski, Elisabeth van Nimwegen, Tina de Bruin, Mattijn Hartemink
Producers: Trent , Hugo Rots, Esther Rots
Production: Rots Filmwerk BV, Netherlands Film Institute Productions
World sales: Films Boutique, Skalitzer Str. 54A, 10997 Berlin Germany, Tel: +49 (0) 3069537850, www.filmsboutique.com
SYNOPSIS
Marieke is a cheerful and carefree woman in her early thirties living the fast life in Amsterdam. One night, a pizza delivery-boy breaks into her house and assaults her. A friend comes to her aid, and they escape in a panic. A few weeks later, Marieke buys a remote and derelict cottage in the Zeeland countryside. In these new surroundings, she thinks she will be able to shake off her painful experiences. But she doesn't feel safe in her new home and regards the friendly and helpful villager John as an intruder. Through Internet chat rooms she meets fellow victims who, like her, are willing to take matters into their own hands. At the onset of summer Marieke seems to be returning to her former self. She puts fresh energy into renovating the cottage. She even starts a relationship with John and gets pregnant. But without realizing it, she loses control of her life.
THE DIRECTOR: ESTHER ROTS
Esther Rots was born in Groenlo (Netherlands) in 1972. She lives in Amsterdam. She studied at of Visual Arts in Arnhem, then at the Film Academy in Amsterdam and she made three short films screened at renowned festivals and winning many awards. Speel met me (Play with me, 2002) and Ik ontspruit (I sprout, 2003) were selected on competition at Cannes Film Festival, and Dialoogoefening (Dialogue exercise no. 1: City, 2005) among other prizes has been awarded the Gouden Kalf for best short film and the NPS Prijs voor de Korte Film. Written, directed, edited and produced by herself, Kan door huid heen (Can go through skin) is her feature film debut.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
What is it that the mind lets us experience? What gets through to us; what gets shut out; what resides in the subconscious; how do we fool ourselves? All of my films toy with similar ideas: the tremendous and intense difference between knowing and feeling; the conscious and the subconscious; reality and the auto pilot of everyday life; interpretation and fact - and how these are remembered afterwards. I find such processes deeply fascinating: the wonderful logic of the subconscious.
Spending lots of time on site with a very small crew, secluded in the freezing cold like Marieke, gave rise to that special kind of intensity and intimacy required for this film.
FILMOGRAPHY
2002 Play with me (Speel met me)
2003 I sprout (Ik ontspruit)
2005 Dialogue exercise no. 1: City (Dialoogoefening no. 1: Stad)
2009 Can go through skin (Kan door huid heen)
AWARDS AND FESTIVALS
2009 Berlinale – Forum
2009 New York - New Film New Directors
2009 Nordic Film Festival, Rouen
2009 San Francisco International Film festival
2009 Crossing Europe Filmfestival Linz
2009 Exposed Filmfestival for First Films, Koln
2009 Transilvania IFF, Romania: FIPRESCI Award
2009 Edinburgh International Film Festival
2009 Leeds Film Festival
2009 Ghent Film festival
2009 Warsaw Film Festival
2009 Thessaloniki Film Festival
