ECHO
2020 · 6m · Netherlands, Japan
Directed by Lieke Bezemer
Genres: documentary, experimental
Tones: contemplative, melancholic
A six-minute cinematic essay that visualizes the invisible psychological aftermath of sexual trauma through the snowscapes of Hokkaido, Japan, drawing on Japanese mythology and the director’s own narration.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Bezemer does the formally radical thing of removing human subjects entirely from a film about human trauma — letting Hokkaido's snow carry the weight of what can't be spoken — and the restraint is devastating.
Six minutes of trauma externalized to Hokkaido snow with no human subjects — that's a real conceptual commitment, but the Capernaum comp is wildly off-base and undermines my trust in the framing.
Bezemer externalizes sexual trauma entirely through Hokkaido's snowscapes — landscape-as-interiority in the lineage of Naomi Kawase and Sokurov. The absence of human bodies is the formal gesture, and it holds.
Reviews
In only six minutes, the film manages to convey what others cannot in two hours.
Festivals
- Best Shorts Competition 2021, Best Shorts Competition Award
- Chicago Indie Film Awards 2021, Best Cinematography
- Independent Shorts Awards 2021, Honourable Mention — Best Short
- Manchester Film Festival 2021