The Women of Sanne Sannes

After seeing a book of photos, Frodo Terpstra became captivated by the life and work of photographer Sanne Sannes, who died in a car accident in 1967 at the age of 30. Who was this man who took experimental, grainy erotic pictures of women? Sannes's photos suggest a degree of intimacy between the models and their photographer. Was he a playboy, some kind of James Dean of photography? To find answers to these and other questions, Terpstra visits relatives, old friends, models and possible loves from Sannes's past. Sannes's brother Rob owns his complete photo archive, but he isn't very communicative about Sannes. He can't seem to answer the question of who his brother actually was. Sannes's college friend Martin didn't know him very well, either. He was more closed than a cocoon." In the voice-over, Terpstra wonders if the pictures tell us something about his inner life, and if the myth of the sex maniac is really appropriate. In between the interviews, we see black-and-white images of Sannes's work and Terpstra divulges his findings and philosophies about who Sannes was and what the key to his work might be. The film is a result of the IDFA scenario workshop, which Terpstra won in 2004.