Still from afar

Still from afar

Mixage for a film by Eva Vertongen.

Maybe it is because I’m in here, but movies can put me in a trance. For a moment I can get away from myself” – Thomas

I cannot send him any films, but I suggest to take pictures for him of things that move me, of things that he misses, the things that he desires.” – Eva

An audiovisual dialogue between the filmmaker and a convicted sex offender.

We follow a month-long correspondence between a sex offender and the filmmaker. They write about the things that concern them, but they never seem to understand each other. They never agree and they think differently about all the important things. Thomas has been in prison for years now and talks about his love for a little girl. The filmmaker does not know how to relate to his story. How can someone still give value to a life that has devastated other lives? She is afraid that through reading his letters, she unconsciously puts his crime into perspective.

She takes pictures for him of things that amaze her, she sends him glimpses of beauty. Then she asks him of what he dreams and what he misses. He asks her to take pictures of the desert and the biggest trees in the world. She sends him silent landscapes, memories that will never become his. She is afraid that her pictures will never satisfy his expectations.

Els Viane created some nice sounds that evoke for me very well the desire for esthetic qualities that both Eva and Thomas share. In the same time they form spaces where we can process the difficult moral situation that is presented to us. We amed for a very quiet mix, sometimes almost not hearable, subliminal. we played very subtle withe the distance in the 5.1 mix, to create movements of engagement and perspective.

written and directed by: EVA VAN TONGEREN, producer: DE IMAGERIE & ANIMAL TANK, director of photography: CEDRIC VANKERCKHOVEN, sound editor KWINTEN VAN LAETHEM, sound design ELS VIAENE, sound mixer RUBEN NACHTERGAELE, editor FEBE MOENS, color grading VEERLE ZEELMAEKERS, graphics GARAGE64, advice  EVGENIA BRENDES, ROBBRECHT DESMET & LAURENT VAN LANCKER, with the support of: FLANDERS AUDIOVISUAL FUND, TAX SHELTER OF THE BELGIAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, DE IMAGERIE, HET BOS

World premiere at the Courtisane Film Festival Ghent (Ghent, Belgium): 29 March 2018
International Film Festival Rotterdam (Rotterdam, Netherlands): 23 January - 3 February 2019
VIDEONALE.17 (Bonn, Germany): 21 February- 14 April 2019
International Short Film Week Regensburg (Regensburg, Germany): 16 - 20 March 2019
DOCVILLE Documentary Film Festival (Leuven, Belgium): 27 March - 4 April 2019
Ann Arbor Film Festival (Michigan, USA) 26 - 31 March 2019
Kortfilm Programma in Het Bos (Antwerpen, Belgium): 24 May 2019
La Guarimba (Calabria, southern Italy): 07 - 11 August 2019
NOFLASH Video Show (New Brunswick, USA): 02 - 05 April 2020 Ibrida Festival (Forlì FC, Italy) : 11 - 13 September 2020