The Beast in the Jungle

Short dance film focusing on the Argentine Tango. The location is a wintery, deserted and neglected park. As they dance, two women dressed in close-fitting fur take possession of the park. (EYE filmmuseum)

A funny, cruel exploration of the male psyche, Enter Achilles is set in a typical British pub, a shabby, nicotine-stained boozer. Pop songs tumble out of the jukebox, there is football on the TV, and the eight men lark around, pint glasses in hand. But their blokish fun is balanced on a knife-edge of tension, for beneath the mateyness lurks a disturbing undercurrent of paranoia and insecurity, where weakness is brutally exploited and violence covers up vulnerability.

When he sees members of the audience crying while he’s performing his dance, Xavi is a bit disappointed. If they’re crying because they’re moved by his dancing as an art form, that’s fine. But if it’s out of pity because he’s in a wheelchair, they can “fuck off.” A similar attitude can be detected in Jos de Putter and Clara van Gool’s portrait of the Catalan dance collective Liant la Troca, whose members include people with a physical disability. One by one, they spotlight some of these intriguing personalities.

During the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2002, Leo Hannewijk (festival director Film by the Sea) approached filmmaker and producer Digna Sinke with the idea of asking several film makers to make short films based on poems about the province of Zeeland. It would offer an opportunity to investigate the limits of the medium film and, just like poetry, not to focus on the story but to tackle universal and grander themes through mood and form. In the end, eight short films were realized, by eight different filmmakers. The films are connected by intermezzi, aerial shots of the Zeeland coasts. Poems of the Sea is a stirring and surprising portrayal of Zeeland. Filled with desires and passion.