Jan 26, 2024 · Megan Hoetger
In a Place North of North · Filming days one and two
Filming started in late August in Tungsten Studio, a sprawling complex set into a mostly commercial sales warehouse zone in Broek in Waterland, a municipality north of Amsterdam Noord. For two days, the BSB team gathered with around thirty cast and crew members and shot several scenes, ranging from a house party to footage of film’s protagonist (played by Henriette “Aelia Saph” Valies), as well as her younger self (played by Ródae Valentijn) alone in the dark. With chiaroscuro lighting and minimal-to-no props in a soundproofed black studio, the space felt dream-like. As shooting went on, though, the dream started to slide into a bad trip, and extras for the party scene began to ask if BSB was making a horror film. They noticed straightaway that the lightness and togetherness of the party in one scene transformed into a suffocating mass of zombie-like bodies in the next.
Meanwhile, off set felt like what one might hope a family hang out could be – easy, comfortable, good energies. Everyone was laughing and curious, eager, and also a bit nervous. Thanks to the confidence, graceful focus, and sharp sense of humor brought off set by production leader Nathania Vazquez, as well as the on set acting coach Roxana Verwey, everything felt like it flowed.
There were interesting tensions between the on- and off-set spaces, which reflected the tensions within notions of community and intimacy that the ZWARTE IBIS project explores. The film’s director Emma-Lee Amponsah and music composer Chris “Ci” Rickets later commented on this, describing a kind of doubling that happened through the process of making a film about community as an act within community, and the parallel worlds that it created. The documentation collected here holds this tension, and is culled from the BSB social media, stories shared by the cast and crew, and photos shared amongst the collective in the group WhatsApp chat.
Meanwhile, off set felt like what one might hope a family hang out could be – easy, comfortable, good energies. Everyone was laughing and curious, eager, and also a bit nervous. Thanks to the confidence, graceful focus, and sharp sense of humor brought off set by production leader Nathania Vazquez, as well as the on set acting coach Roxana Verwey, everything felt like it flowed.
There were interesting tensions between the on- and off-set spaces, which reflected the tensions within notions of community and intimacy that the ZWARTE IBIS project explores. The film’s director Emma-Lee Amponsah and music composer Chris “Ci” Rickets later commented on this, describing a kind of doubling that happened through the process of making a film about community as an act within community, and the parallel worlds that it created. The documentation collected here holds this tension, and is culled from the BSB social media, stories shared by the cast and crew, and photos shared amongst the collective in the group WhatsApp chat.