Tag: short documentary

A group of foreign researchers visits a site of ecological controversy and learns of the strange events that are happening to the lake and its human and non-human inhabitants. Can the natural reserve be healed with toxic mud as industries claim?

In the short film Kali Waal, landscape design is both poison and remedy. A nature reserve in the Netherlands is the setting for an ecological controversy. Decades of industrial sand extraction created lakes so deep that no light can reach the bottom. The lakes have become lifeless pools of water.

To help convey the feelings of unease and uncannyness we went with a ‘slightly off’ colour palette, that is close to natural, but not quite… Occasionally selectively sharpening elements to push the image towards magic realism.

Why do you have to do what everyone else does and why does everyone have to look the same? Ninnoc struggles when she is in a group. She doesn’t just want to adapt to the others, but she’s also afraid of being excluded. Can you deviate in a group? Or will you then end up alone?

In the documentary Ninnoc you crawl in Ninnoc’s head. And find her in an empty school. Can she escape from the group or does she always carry it with her? What part of herself does Ninnoc show and what does she keep hidden?

When director Niki, cinematographer Jefrim and I spoke about the film we immediately agreed that even though the subject and images can easily become dark and haunting, we really wanted the look to also have a soft and romantic side. So even though the lighting is sometimes dramatic we created a more pastel airy look that brings out the softer side of Ninnoc.

In addition to colour, I created some visual effects and did some small retouching.