IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary
The Netherlands, 2015 DCP, color, 90 min Director: Ester Gould Cinematography: Jean Counet Screenplay: Ester Gould Editing: Katarina Türler Sound: Rik Meijer, Gideon Bijlsma Sound Design: Marc Lizier Music: Marc Lizier Production: Joost Seelen for Zuidenwind Filmproductions Executive Production: Estelle Bovelander
for Zuidenwind Filmproductions
Distribution for the Netherlands: Cinema Delicatessen Screening Copy: Zuidenwind Filmproductions Involved TV Channel: VPRO
WORLD PREMIERE
A Strange Love Affair with Ego Ester Gould
Ever since she was a young child, filmmaker Ester Gould has been amazed by the sheer self-confidence of her older sister Rowan, whose boundless creativity and natural beauty tended to make everyone around her jealous. She has the world at her feet, and the universe is her playground. But can such a well-developed sense of your own worth go too far? Self-assurance is greatly valued—until it spills over into an unhealthy overestimation of the self. In this incisive, personal visual essay, Gould explores our society’s increasing obsession with the self. Thanks in part to social media, the pressure to have a fantastically successful life is ever greater; personal development seems to be the only thing that counts. The filmmaker follows a number of seemingly successful people going out, socializing and participating in the art world, as they reflect in conversations or interviews on the level of self-confidence they display and how this relates to their actual “self.” Meanwhile, dreamy reenactments tell the story of the filmmaker’s sister Rowan, illustrated by excerpts from correspondence between the sisters. How marvelously everything is going; how fantastically she’s doing; she’s taking yet another inspirational course; she gets so many invites that there’s simply no time. Gould gradually starts to question her interesting sister’s stories, which leads to a disconcerting denouement.
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Ester Gould: Soy optimista (2007), Altijd maar dat gezeik (2008), Flink oud (2009), David de ster (2010), We komen even sorry zeggen (2012), Bikkels (2013) Ester Gould & Sarah Sybling 50 Cent (2007), De rekening van Catelijne (2012) Ester Gould & Sabine Lubbe Bakker: Shout (2010)