Mon Oncle, Fri 7 October 21:00
Winner of the Oscar for best foreign film, Mon Oncle is mostly set in and around the ultra-modern Villa Arpel. Modern in its architectural appearance, materials and layout, the villa is fitted with the most innovative technical gadgets: an automated home in a pre-internet world. The lead character Monsieur Hulot (played by Jacques Tati himself) lives in a conventional house. His visit to his sister, who lives with her husband and son in the villa they created for themselves, unfolds chaotically. Tati’s criticism of post-war mechanical efficiency and consumerism in this delightful film feels incredibly contemporary.
Before the film, Floris Paalman (teacher and researcher in Film Studies at the University of Amsterdam and member of the editorial board of Mediapolis, a journal of cities and culture) will give a presentation about the Modern Household.
Tickets for Mon Oncle? Click here
The Bothersome Man, Sat 8 October 21:15
We are constantly bombarded on our screens by war, famine, injustice and the climate crisis. On top of that we have our own personal concerns: dirty dishes, sick cat, leaky pen, grumpy boss and so on. But there turns out to be another world held up to us all the time by the Mr. Marvis ads, the Instagram posts of Kylie Jenner and Nate Berkus, and architecture renderings: the perfect, unblemished world populated by cheerful, healthy people. In The Bothersome Man (Den brysomme mannen), a sleekly styled film with subdued colours, the lead character ends up in a perfect world after a successful suicide attempt. But life in a city without problems turns out to be not that simple.
Before the film, Miruna Dunu (information designer with a background in architecture working as Visual Communications Designer at MVRDV, and author of the award-winning experimental docu-fiction “Coastland”) gives a presentation about the Happiness filter.
Tickets for The Bothersome Man? Click here