In the short Dutch film Ceci n'est pas un rêve which premiered at the festival Go Short (Nijmegen, 14-18 March) slowly transforms the cityscape of Paris into a dreamscape. You could call it a surrealist documentary, in which filmmaker Amos Mulder has incorporated influences from early German film pioneer Walter Ruttmann as well as modern computer animation.
With further references to Magritte and to texts by Plato and Edgar Allan Poe on dream and reality, it seems a bit on the pretentious side, but that does little to diminish the enchantment of this modest poetic experiment. Best of all, Mulder needed no more than 2,500 euros to shoot this film, money raised by 38 supporters through crowdfunding website CineCrowd. What was still needed for editing and finishing the maker matched himself.
On CineCrowd.nl, filmmakers can present their film idea and the public is given the opportunity to support the project with a smaller or larger amount. The initiative started over a year ago and now 18 short films and one feature-length film (Die Welt, by Alex Pitstra) completed funding. Only one of the projects presented so far threatens not to make it. This far exceeds initial expectations, says founder Roel van de Weijer. He is not afraid that it will be a short-lived novelty because he notes that this form of public participation is actually starting to become more widely known.
Incidentally, CineCrowd does apply strict selection to the projects submitted, so that donors have some guarantee that their money will be well spent. In principle, it is intended only for professional filmmakers. The selection is not primarily based on the film plan itself, but mainly on the enthusiasm of the filmmaker, who will have to convince the audience to support him financially. This form of microfinancing usually involves films that can be made for a few thousand euros. The highest amount raised so far was €20,000 for Deal By Eddy Terstall.
Seven of the now completed CineCrowd films will be screened during the Go Short short film festival. Three of them have been selected for the Dutch competition. This includes the opening film of Go Short Code A1, a stylised mini-drama that takes us inside the mind of an orderly who has just witnessed the horrific consequences of violence against emergency workers.
Also And on a good day, the latest film by acclaimed filmmaker Heddy Honigmann, came about partly through crowdfunding. This charming 30-minute comedy, starring Golden Calf winner Nasrdin Dchar and Maryam Hassouni, is loosely based on the usually humourless discussion about wearing headscarves. The film was commissioned and largely financed by the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision. But to make up the budget, Honigmann successfully appealed to the public via CineCrowd, which raised about a sixth of the total budget of 80,000 euros. The film is part of a DVD box set dedicated to Heddy Honigmann. Go Short has its cinema premiere today.
Leo Bankersen
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