ECHO portrays a mysteriously frozen world, consisting of empty landscapes, lonely trees, mythological creatures and an abandoned home. A world which, at first glance, seems similar to the world we all share together - yet feels uncanny. There is never a human in sight. However, you can’t shake the thought that you feel a presence. It’s breathing down your neck. Shadowing you wherever you go. The laws of nature don’t apply here. There are other forces. Bigger. And they rule mercilessly.
Told in a poetic yet confronting manner, ECHO bridges the gap between ones disconnected inner- and outside world. More specifically, the inner world of the director herself. Working her cherished combination of nature and film enabled her to finally begin to open up, acknowledge, and study the very parts of herself she fought to deny for years. These reflections resulted in ECHO: a rare and vulnerable insight into her psyche. It allows the audience to take a deep dive into the overwhelmingly complex aftermath of trauma caused by sexual abuse.
Understanding, let alone communicating, trauma feels impossible. ECHO uses a metaphorical approach and found her language in Japanese mythology. Mythological spirits, are known as ‘yokai’ and believed to shape-shift themselves into natural phenomena of our world. Their unique ability to roam both the ‘hidden’ ghost- and ‘real’ outer world, bridge the communication gap and expose the hidden dimensions of trauma: through landscapes and animals. Thus creating a world tangible enough to then finally be put into words. The raw and poignant voice-over, voiced by the director herself, starts the much needed dialogue that up until now stayed suppressed and unspoken.
At HKU (Utrecht) better known as ‘the pigeon lady’, and at UNSW (Sydney) as ‘the bin chicken chick’; it is obvious that pretty much my entire life revolves around nature - especially my work as a photographer and filmmaker.
Specializing in the roles of cinematographer and director, I developed a strong focus on storytelling, research and concept development - all of these predominantly focused on non-fictional narratives. My obsession for nature documentaries combined with an artistic background results in the urge to portrait hidden stories, whether or not nature-related, from unexpected angles. This includes experimenting with adding layering in the narrative.
My artistic visions are based on both intuition and thorough research. This translates into a critical attitude while still staying flexible and open-minded. An enormous amount of ambition to obtain the best possible results can sometimes lead to extreme decisions; like traveling to Japan for my graduation film ECHO. It is my desire to tell meaningful stories and I believe these deserve, besides lots of love and attention, such a radical approach.
As a filmmaker with a photography background, my images are characterized by photographic style: every shot, still or moving, should be aesthetically strong enough to be displayed on the wall as fine art. Although photography and film are my main tools, I do not hesitate to use other disciplines. The more suitable the communication method, the stronger the message. To nail this, I’m always looking for the optimum combination of disciplines, or ways to implement new media developments in my work.