Last Conversation

  • 75'
  • Netherlands
  • 2009
Noud Heerkens (1954) has for years played an important role in the Dutch film world - as a teacher at several art academies, as a producer and compiler of film programmes and festivals, but above all as a maker of videos, installations, dance films and short experimental films, such as Erasmus Spitzen/Crossing a Bridge on Points, which can be seen as an ode to Rotterdam's Erasmus Bridge.
In 2008, he shot his first full-length feature, Last Conversation. Heerkens posed an enormous challenge for his protagonist Johanna ter Steege and his crew: the whole film was shot in one long take. Cameraman Richard Oosterhout mounted 25 fixed cameras on the car from which the career woman Anna makes one last phone call to her lover. He had ended their extramarital affair a few days before. Anna, a self-assured woman with a good job, is not used to being a victim of other people's decisions. During the long, dramatic car ride she fiercely resists her feelings of humiliation, loss and sorrow.Unlike previous one-take feature films that have been realised since the advert of digital video, from Sokurov's Russian Ark (2003) to the Brazilian Still Orangutans (2007), Heerkens concentrates on one person and one character. As a result, the emphasis is on concentration. This makes the achievement of all those involved even more impressive. (GT)
  • 75'
  • Netherlands
  • 2009
Director
Noud Heerkens
Premiere
World premiere
Country of production
Netherlands
Year
2009
Festival Edition
IFFR 2009
Length
75'
Medium
35mm
Language
Dutch
Producer
Rob Vermeulen
Production Company
Holland Harbour Productions
Sales
Holland Harbour Productions
Screenplay
Noud Heerkens, Jacqueline Epskamp
Cinematography
Richard van Oosterhout
Editor
Merel Notten
Production Design
Diana van de Vossenberg
Sound Design
Boris Debackere, Steven van Dijk
Music
Boris Debackere
Cast
Johanna ter Steege
Local Distributor
EYE Film Institute Netherlands
Website
http://www.hollandharbour.nl
Director
Noud Heerkens
Premiere
World premiere
Country of production
Netherlands
Year
2009
Festival Edition
IFFR 2009
Length
75'
Medium
35mm
Language
Dutch
Producer
Rob Vermeulen
Production Company
Holland Harbour Productions
Sales
Holland Harbour Productions
Screenplay
Noud Heerkens, Jacqueline Epskamp
Cinematography
Richard van Oosterhout
Editor
Merel Notten
Production Design
Diana van de Vossenberg
Sound Design
Boris Debackere, Steven van Dijk
Music
Boris Debackere
Cast
Johanna ter Steege
Local Distributor
EYE Film Institute Netherlands
Website
http://www.hollandharbour.nl