Dutch director Peter Hoogendoorn’s second film Three Days Of Fish is premiering this weekend at Karlovy Vary in the Crystal Globe competition.
The film follows a 65-year-old man who – living abroad with his second wife - returns to Rotterdam for his annual health check-ups. While there it becomes clear his 45 year-old son desires a closer relationship with his father. The title is a reference to the proverb that familial peace is best kept with short visits.
The Netherlands film is produced by Circe Films and Kapp Holland Film and co-produced by A Private View and NTR. World Sales are handled by Athens based Heretic.
Peter Hoogendoorn’s debut feature Between 10 And 12 was selected for Venice’s Giornate Degli Autori in 2014.
What was the reason for such a comparatively long period between Three Days Of Fish and your last film?
In general, people talk a lot but say very little. The same goes for film; if I feel like I have something to say, I do it, otherwise, it’s a waste of money. When I die, I want what I have created to fully represent me, with no noise between the works. I suspect the next films will come a little faster, but very personal films take a long time for me.
Your previous work was inspired by events that have touched you personally. Is it the same with Three Days Of Fish?
It is personal indeed. My father is married to a Cape Verdean, whom I have known since I was three years old. She’s my second mother, so to speak. My sister died in a car accident on which Between 10 And 12 is based. Partly because of my sister’s death, they started a new life in Portugal on the coast of the Algarve. Another reason for my father to live in Portugal for the rest of his life was his lung disease. When he came to the Netherlands, things had to be arranged: doctor, dentist, etc.
Superficially, I thought it would be a nice idea to make a road movie among the most banal places instead of beautiful landscapes as you see in many films…For me, it was important I discovered through making the film that the most important character is the one who is missing, the mother.
My birth mother died when I was 15 and had a hard time during the time she was alive. The lack of a mother figure has shaped me and led to the realisation that I turn into a child in the presence of my father. A child who desires and expects something that he can no longer give me.
Why did you decide to shoot in black and white?
When I think back to loved ones who have passed away, it is often the smallest moments of togetherness in the most banal places. And often the things we miss about someone are things that can irritate you. I see the film as a photo book with loving memories of three days spent together. So there is something nostalgic about the black and white.
Another reason is that Rotterdam is an incredible mix of colors and diversity of buildings. So for the outdoor scenes, with black and white, the focus remained on the characters. What is different with black and white is that you start thinking differently; it is more about structures and contrasts. Strangely enough, the art director and her team spent a lot of time with colours because each colour and intensity gives a different shade in the black and white.
What are you working on next?
A project I am writing, Portimao, is about two sisters who visit their parents in Portugal every year to commemorate the deceased sister of the house. It is 10 years later, and the grave has been transferred from the Netherlands to Portugal, which no one knew about, leading to everything going wrong. It’s a film about how grief is dealt with differently within a family and is also tragically and comically interesting. Another film I am writing is a mother-daughter tale about a young woman who wants a new chance to become a mother to her daughter but gradually discovers that she actually wants to become a daughter to her own mother. It’s a film about forgiveness and how problems are transformed from generation to generation without giving us a second thought.
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