15/07/2016 - Fiona Tan’s experimental film Ascent is among the Dutch titles set to be presented at the Swiss festival

The 2016 Locarno Film Festival will feature three Dutch titles, albeit none in competition. The Signs of Life section will present Ascent [+see also:
trailer
film profile], a new Dutch production directed by Australian-born filmmaker Fiona Tan, whose previous film, History's Future [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fiona Tan
film profile], competed for the Tiger Award at the latest International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Ascent is a project made up entirely of stills, a filmic experience that swings between documentary and fiction. Together with the two protagonists, the viewer climbs Mount Fuji, crossing geographical, temporal and cultural divides. The project incorporates Hokusai’s woodblock prints, but also paintings by van Gogh, philosophical views stemming from Asian philosophy, mankind's connection to landscape, Mount Fuji's religious significance and recent Japanese history. The film was produced by Antithesis Films.

Meanwhile, Alex Pitstra’s documentary Bazness as Usual [+see also:
trailer
film profile] has been selected for the independent Semaine de la Critique sidebar. Produced by Selfmade Films, Pitstra’s first feature-length documentary revolves around Pitstra himself, who was born to a European mother and a Tunisian playboy father. For the majority of his life, his father was absent, but after more than 20 years, Alex invites his half-sister Jasmin to travel to Tunisia with him.

Pitstra’s credits include his fiction film Die Welt [+see also:
trailer
interview: Alex Pitstra
film profile] (2011), for which he won several prizes.

Finally, the short fiction film Clan, directed by Stefanie Kolk, will have its world premiere in the Pardi di domani international competition. Clan is Kolk’s graduation film from the Netherlands Film Academy (NFA).

The Locarno International Film Festival unspools between 3 and 13 August.