De hoop van het vaderland

Digna Sinke’s first feature-length film is a documentary with hybrid elements that has hardly been screened outside of The Netherlands. Subtitled for first time for this Viennale retrospective, it offers a multifaceted look at a very specific subject: Utrecht City Gymnasium’s newspaper Apophorèta (which could somewhat frivolously be translated as “goodie bag”), initially published in 1937. It combines several elements, such as interviews with former editors (some of whom later became well known), an array of archival material and fictional scenes in which two women in a train heading for Utrecht philosophise about the past, as well as ideas and hope for the future. It offers a history of and reflects upon the enormous sociological changes that took place during the 1960s—the period in which Sinke attended the school—as well the war years. Moreover, it provides a universal portrait of the formative years of creative teenagers. Instantly recognisable to followers of Sinke’s oeuvre are the questions and musings that connect these elements: what makes one feel an outsider? Why do so many people lose their creative urges after adolescence? Why does one forget some things, while other memories resurface, like a volcano long considered dormant? (Gerwin Tamsma)

In the presence of Digna Sinke and Gerwin Tamsma (Curator).

Digna Sinke (Selection): GROETEN UIT ZONNEMAIRE (1972), DE STILLE OCEAAN (1984), BELLE VAN ZUYLEN (1993), Tiengemeten Project (2001–2006), WEEMOED EN WILDERNIS (2010), AFTER THE TONE (2014), UNDER THE SURFACE (2016), BEWAREN / KEEPING & SAVING (2018), ZOET & ZOUT (2019), GRENZEN (2020), HEMELSLEUTEL (2024)