Methusalem by Floor van der Meulen wins the 3rd EWA Best female director Development Award in Trieste
For the 3rd year in a row, EWA NETWORK has the privilege to award the best female-directed project at When East Meets West co-production forum.
Twelve projects were eligible this year, and we selected a project that sheds a light on a societal taboo, with no judgement and even with a touch of humour. The project resonates with the universal issue of aging and death and how to confront it when it happens to a family.
Congratulations to Floor van der Meulen for her project Methusalem.
Synopsis:
Just before Iris can announce her pregnancy, her father breaks the news that he wants to end his life. He has had a pleasant life but is now ready for death. Faced with her father’s death wish, Iris turns into a childish girl. She can’t let the news go, and tries everything to change Jan’s mind. She desires to be close to him during their remaining time, to not let him out of her sight; therefore she decides to take him to the Slovenian Alps and steals him away from the rest of the family.
100’ / colour
Genre: drama, tragicomedy
Original title: METHUSALEM
Dir: Floor van der Meulen
Prod: Keplerfilm - Derk-Jan Warrink, Koji Nelissen
Sc: Bastiaan Kroeger
Language: Dutch, English
Floor van der Meulen
Floor van der Meulen, born in 1989 in the Netherlands, studied Audiovisual Design at the Rotterdam WdkA Art Academy and the School of Visual Arts in New York. In 2014, she made her international debut with her documentary STORMING PARADISE (50min), broadcast by Al Jazeera Channel and screened at numerous international film festivals including DOK Leipzig.
Her film 9 DAYS - FROM MY WINDOW IN ALEPPO (2015) was selected for International Film Festival Rotterdam, DOK Leipzig, won Best Short Film at the BFI Film Festival London, and picked up, after 85+ festival selections, the Best European Short Film Award at the 29th European Film Awards. Her 45min drama IN EXILE (2016) was nominated for two ‘Dutch Oscars’ and won the award for Best Actress.
a.o. GREETINGS FROM ALEPPO (2017, short doc), IN EXILE (2016, mid-length), 9 DAYS – FROM MY WINDOW IN ALEPPO (2016, short doc) Awards: Best Short at BFI FF, Best Short at European Film Award, STORMING PARADISE (2014, mid-length doc).
