Flying High, Longlist - Short Film

Drama

Noël Loozen

A small film about great sorrow. DRAMA was created as part of a Dutch art house community's initiative, encouraging three makers to create three independent scenes to be screened ahead of the cinema viewing of a feature film after the commercials. Their idea was to give the makers the chance to play out their ultimate scene on the screen. The short manages to be more than just a scene, but an independent narrative standing on its own feet. The director didn't need much time to pinpoint his ultimate scene, the idea of a small film about great sorrow came to him almost immediately. For a long time, he had wanted to capture a metaphor in a very literal way; drowning in your own sorrows (translation of Dutch saying 'het verdrinken in je eigen verdriet'). The challenge was to play this out on the screen live, the director did not want to use any visual effects in bringing this saying to life.

Driven by stories, Noël Loozen is fascinated by little worlds and the clumsiness of life. This manifests itself in his films by sharing the stories nobody is waiting for, or rather, the stories nobody knew they had to know about. Visually Noël tends to keep things simple whilst discreetly adding subtle hints of irony to his images. Moving between the worlds of photography and film, his work is very much a reflection of this hybridity. In 2019 Noël was selected to take part in the prestigious Berlinale Talent programme.