At the 71st International Short Film Festival Oberhausen that will take place 29 April – 4 May 2025 short documentary Honestly is selected for the Children's and Youth Film Competition. And the restored works of Barbara Meter, one of the Netherlands’ most important experimental filmmakers and part of the Eye Filmmuseum’s collection, will be presented in the new Distributor’s Selection program.
Still: Honestly - Eva Nijsten
In Eva Nijsten’s Honestly, produced by Tangerine Tree, Peter van Maaren, a homosexual teacher who converted to Islam, leads workshops on sexual and religious diversity for primary and secondary school students. Using humor and relatable language, he tackles sensitive topics like crushes, gender expectations, and religion's influence on behavior. As students engage, Peter encourages open discussions and disarming questions, creating a safe environment. The film highlights the importance of honest conversations about taboo subjects and explores the students' reactions when Peter shares his own personal experiences. Earlier festival selections include IndieLisboa and Olympia International Film Festival.
In the Distributors’ Selection, a new format and successor to the former Distributor’s Screenings, international distributors of experimental short film continue to present works from their catalogues at the festival. The newly introduced focus, however, is not exclusively on new acquisitions but also on older works from the distributors’ catalogues or archives. Eye Filmmuseum presents the restored works of Barbara Meter in a program called Found Sounds A Retrospective of Barbara Meter’s Avant-Garde Films. In her avant-garde films, Meter pushes the cinematic medium forward with her unique way of repurposing documents and audio recordings, utilizing an innovative, masterful application of optical printing techniques. She manipulates the images and reworks found sounds to find and create a personal expressive mode. This all-celluloid program has been curated by Mónica Savirón and organized in partnership with Eye Filmmuseum.
Find out more about Oberhausen here.