{"id":205724,"date":"2025-01-21T18:02:46","date_gmt":"2025-01-21T17:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iffr.com\/en\/?p=205724"},"modified":"2025-01-21T18:02:51","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T17:02:51","slug":"everything-is-relative-de-idylle-by-aaron-rookus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iffr.com\/en\/everything-is-relative-de-idylle-by-aaron-rookus","title":{"rendered":"Everything is relative: De Idylle by Aaron Rookus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dutch filmmaker Aaron Rookus is in the Big Screen Competition at IFFR 2025 with his sophomore feature De Idylle<\/strong>, which was presented in IFFR Pro’s co-production market CineMart and work-in-progress platform Darkroom. He discusses with producer Maarten van der Ven, who also reflects on his participation on Rotterdam Lab as the programme hits its 25 anniversary.<\/p>\n\n\n

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In Aaron Rookus\u2019s complex and highly entertaining De Idylle<\/strong> (<\/em>Idyllic<\/strong>), we encounter four generations of one family, all of whom, for one reason or another, have developed an interest in death. These range from 10-year-old Timo, who is checking off his bucket list, believing he only has one week left to live, to grandmother Joke, who is tired of life and just wants to give it all up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the middle, there is opera diva Annika who, after receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis, reimagines her life in a dull marriage in a suburban house, continually encountering different iterations of herself. Meanwhile, Annika\u2019s brother Victor is new to the queer dating scene, but even he must make a bitter eulogy at his father\u2019s funeral, who has bizarrely died on the same day as grandmother Joke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story is equally humorous, inventive and bizarre, and it has a very personal undertow for writer-director Rookus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI guess all the characters are somehow perspectives of what I’ve already gone through\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I was 23, I had cancer, so at a very early age I was faced with my mortality,\u201d the filmmaker tells IFFR Pro. \u201cDuring the years after that, I realised tons of different things \u2013 what is important in life and what is not. Everything is relative. Your career is not important. It is friends and family that are. It\u2019s the basic stuff, but I truly learned it. So I wanted to make a film about this experience.\u201d’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rookus survived the cancer and is now in his early 40s, healthy and with two kids. It was inevitable that his film, therefore, would itself be a multi-generational affair, with themes of self-knowledge and self-fulfilment at its root. \u201cI guess all the characters are somehow perspectives of what I’ve already gone through,\u201d the director stresses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cBeautiful opera-esque structure with people from different generations\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think what Aaron did really well was to compose this beautiful opera-esque structure with people from different generations confronted with death or other important life markers, and that they have to make a choice or at least live with the consequences of that moment,\u201d confirms producer Maarten van der Ven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00a0“I think De Idylle fits perfectly in this competition”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

For Rookus, the selection for IFFR\u2019s Big Screen Competition is a \u201chappy home\u2026 It’s what we aimed for because the film just goes in so many directions, as well as visually. I think De Idylle<\/strong> fits perfectly in this competition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the first film that producer Van der Ven is world-premiering at IFFR since founding his company Studio Ruba with Layla Meijman five years ago (although the company world-premiered Zara Dwinger\u2019s superb Kiddo in Berlinale Generation in 2023.) Van der Ven is also producing Dwinger\u2019s next feature project as well as the new project by Ena Sendijarevi\u0107 (Sweet Dreams<\/strong>, Take Me Somewhere Nice<\/strong>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The producer has maintained close relationships with IFFR Pro throughout his career. In 2011 he was an alumnus of Rotterdam Lab, which celebrates its 25th<\/sup> birthday this year. De Idylle<\/strong> was presented at CineMart in 2020 and as a Darkroom work-in-progress presentation in 2024. The company also presented Joost van Hezik\u2019s feature project Becoming Dubois<\/strong> at Boost NL in 2022. For Van der Ven, IFFR Pro delivers a \u201cholistic\u201d experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cAs long as you just start talking on a personal level and make personal connections, you will meet and see these people who have a very good nose for talent and quality again and again\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So what advice would he offer to first-time \u2018Labbies\u2019 (Rotterdam Lab emerging producers) in attendance in 2025? First and foremost, enjoy it, he advises, but be prepared. \u201cYou get to meet a lot of excellent experts and you get to feel that this is the start of your international co-production career,\u201d he underlines. \u201cAs long as you just start talking on a personal level and make personal connections, you will meet and see these people who have a very good nose for talent and quality again and again at CineMart, or at Berlinale Talents or at EAVE or ACE. And when you know them [better], then you can begin to build something of quality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Idylle<\/strong> is produced by Studio Ruba in co-production with Belgium (Polar Bear) and Estonia (Allfilm) and was supported by the Netherlands Film Fund, Netherlands Production Incentive, BNNVARA, CoBO fund, Creative Europe Media, Estonian Film Institute, Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) and the Belgian Tax shelter. Paradiso Filmed Entertainment will release De Idylle<\/strong> in Dutch cinemas 13 March 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\t

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A list with articles<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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