March 16: Ester Gould

“Research is actually the core of the creative process,” says filmmaker and research Ester Gould when speaking on the theme she selected for her IDFA Vondelpark Pavilion opening program. “Maybe it’s because I started my career as a researcher, but the importance of research is often underestimated. People think it’s as simple as calling up a few main characters, but it’s so much more than that. It’s a way of observing. A perspective that I think reveals more about reality than just dry scientific research.” 

The influence of the filmmaker’s position is also an important theme in the program. That’s the reason that she decided to screen Italianamerican (1974) by Martin Scorsese, in which he interviews his parents about their Italian roots. “What I find so interesting about that is that someone who primarily makes fiction films began his career by making a portrait of his own parents—a portrait that already contains all his themes, religion, brotherhood, violence, guilt, you name it. From this, you could conclude that authorship lies in your way of observing, in the research into life and reality.” 

“Reality never conforms to what you had previously thought,” she adds, “you sharpen your vision along the way.” “The time you put into the process provides a certain added creative value and makes a documentary film different from a news item or report. Sometimes I fantisize about having the camera as a third eye during the research process, because so much happens there.”

United States - 1974 - Martin Scorsese - 49 min.

Italianamerican sees director Martin Scorsese turn his lens onto his parents, Catherine and Charles. Seated on their plastic-covered couch, these children of Italian immigrants talk about their youth, surviving on the streets of New York, their Sicilian roots, and their interactions with Irish and Jewish neighbors. Italianamerican is a tribute to his parents, but also a character study that echoes on through his film work, which often revolves around Italian-American characters.

Netherlands - 2009 - Sabine Lubbe Bakker, Ester Gould - 74 min.

Both born in the Golan Heights, bosom buddies Ezat and Bayan have lived their entire lives under Israeli occupation. Thanks to their Syrian parentage, they get the opportunity to go study in Damascus. With a considerable dose of self-confidence and testosterone, the two head off to a new life of opportunity. But the Syrian capital turns out to be a drab metropolis where they don’t feel at home and find out they have to be careful about what they say. 

This film has English subtitles and will be followed by a Q&A with Sabine Lubbe Bakker and Ester Gould.

Netherlands - 2010 - Sarah Vos, Sander Snoep - 75 min.

This film dives into the Dutch community of their former colony of Curaçao. At first glance, the Dutch don't seem to care much for the island. They get together at parties and on the golf courses at the private resorts built by Dutch project developers. The blacks and whites in Curaçao hardly ever speak to each other. Slowly but surely, it becomes clear that the Dutch don't have the faintest idea about their role in the island's past, let alone its effect on contemporary society. By examining this, Curaçao reveals the less pleasant aspects of the character of a people who believe their count always functions as a perfect role model. 

This film has English subtitles and will be followed by a Q&A met Sarah Vos and Sander Snoep.

What do you see when you observe? Why do you see it that way? Together with theatre director Floris van Delft, Ester Gould offers an insight into how stories are chosen and documentaries are made. And also how research is translated into documentary experiences. They invite the audience to reflect on how our perspective shapes our understanding of the world—and offers alternatives.

This program is in Dutch.