Stations are among the few “heterotopia” we still have left, places used intensively by different groups of people and where no single group dominates. The station offers people from various origins, ages and social backgrounds an opportunity to meet each other. People get to know the other while the unknown (and threatening) slowly becomes predictable. This doesn’t engender profound encounters, but it does help reduce the fear and uncertainty borne of social change. In a time when society is increasingly becoming fragmented, places like this have to be cherished.
The film describes 24 hours on the concourse of a large station. The point of departure for the film is the observation of the people waiting (in two different senses: the camera observes the people waiting, while the people waiting observe their surroundings, the other users of the space including the camera). Waiting there, introverted, the subdued fear of all those strange people, the self-conscious haste of the commuter… Images that reveal the complex way in which we relate to each other in our society and how we experience the presence of other people.
The hectic coming and going of travellers sauntering and hurrying past ensures that the gaze of the people waiting registers while it’s also turned inwards. People are distracted by the scenes involving passers-by, but there are so many of them that people can also concentrate on their own inner world. The presence of the camera is often recognised without people feeling caught out or adapting their behaviour. The film can be characterised as a series of “moving photographs”; the shots depict moments of reality in the same intensified way as photographs.
Born in Amsterdam in 1949. Netherlands Film Academy from 1968 to 1972. Co-founder of the film magazine Skrien in 1968. Filmcritic from 1968 to 1982. One of the founders of the Amsterdam City Newsreel collective in 1974. Directed 11 films within the collective between 1974 and 1984.
Between 1983 and 1990 she has also directed plays on stage: works by Beckett, Duras, Camus, Jane Bowles a.o.
filmography since 1982
1982 - GOLVEN (The waves, based on the novel by Virginia Woolf) – feature
festivals: Rotterdam, Berlin, Seaux, Figuera da Foz, Montreal, Edinburgh, London, Turino, Paris, Mannheim (scriptprize Stichting Filmenergie Nederland)
1983 - GIOVANNI – feature
festivals: Budapest, Köln, Paris, Hamburg (special jury prize Nederlandse Filmdagen)
1984 - PROJEKTIES (Projections) - short
1985 - ORNITHOPTER – feature
1988 - AFSTANDEN 1 (Distances 1) – short
- AFSTANDEN 2 (Distances 2) - short
- AFSTANDEN 3 (Distances 3) - short
- REIS ZONDER EINDE (Voyage without end) – feature
1990 - KROKODILLEN IN AMSTERDAM (Crocodiles in Amsterdam) – feature
festivals: Berlin, Créteil, Montreal, New York, San Francisco, Copenhagen, Los Angeles (2d prize Festival International de Films des Femmes, Montreal; Axel Award, Gay & Lesbian Film Festival Copenhagen)
1992 - DE REIS OM DE WERELD IN 80 SNACKBARS (Around the world in 80 snackbars) - documentary
1993 - NAARDEN VESTING (Fort Naarden) – feature
1994 - EEN WINTER IN ZUIDERWOUDE (A winter in Zuiderwoude) - short
festivals: IDFA Amsterdam, Marseille
- WAKERS EN DROMERS (Wakers and dreamers) – documentary
festival: IDFA Amsterdam
1995 - CARLO GINZBURG OP REIS NAAR DE WERELD VAN DE DODEN - (Carlo Ginzburg, travelling to the world of the dead) - documentary
1996 - HET IS DE SCHRAAPZUCHT, GENTLEMEN (It's stinginess, gentlemen) - feature
1998 - DE MAN MET DE HOND (One man and his dog) - feature
festivals: Mannheim, Sao Paolo, Rouen, Créteil, Troia, Montreal, Vancouver (Silver Dolphin, International Filmfestival of Troia for best actor)
2000 - ONBEKENDE KINDEREN (Unknown children), documentary
festival: IDFA Amsterdam
2002 – SPOREN VAN ERASMUS (Erasmus’ traces), documentary.series
2004 – DOOR HET OOG VAN EEN ANDER (Seen through other eyes), documentary
2007 – UTRECHT CS, documentary
Category: MEDIAWAVE Festival / Gathering / MEDIAWAVE 2008
Genre: Documentary
Nationalities: Netherlands
Year: 2008
Premiere: World premier
Director: Annette APON
30 min. 2007 DVD, Colour, szöveg nélkül
Screenplay: Annette Apon
Operatőr: Jan Ketelaars
Zeneszerző: Harry de Wit
Vágó: Jan Ketelaars