Small stories always reveal a bigger story
What Remains
Shortly after their mother dies, three sisters need to clear out their childhood home. All of the sorting and preparing the house for sale brings home the finality of their loss, and confronts them with the inevitable farewell to items that hold the memories of their past.
A change of senses is a change of perspective
Sky
Sky is nine years old and has a significant hearing impairment. He tries hard to participate in his class which is full of good hearing children, but he often feels powerless and misunderstood.
Nature is in charge, but not in my garden
Goeie morrege
A famous weatherman has been retired for several years, but still he wakes up early every morning to observe the wind, the birds and the nature around him. Who knows, maybe one day he will get a call from someone who needs his advice.
Who determines the image:
the documentary maker or the protagonist?
Rada’s frame
Rada advances in a speech contest and has a clear vision of what she wants. How does a girl who is so aware of the impact of imaging, deal with the fact that others create an image of her?
An attempt to take hold of life.
Loes Janssen
Documentary filmmaker Loes Janssen (b. 1991) likes to explore the lives and minds of other people.
In a vulnerable and unpolished way, her documentaries capture the human quest to take hold of life. In the poignant documentary Sky (2016, winner of the Inclús Barcelona: Best Short Documentary Award, among others), she steps into the world of a nine-year-old hearing-impaired protagonist. In the poetic Teledoc Campus film What Remains (2020, aired by the Dutch Public Broadcaster), material objects take on the leading role as three sisters clear out their parental home after their mother dies. Janssen takes the time to listen sensitively and make subtle observations, always paying attention to detail. “A small story often reveals a bigger story.” Her distinctly cinematic choices surprise and reflect on the inevitability of loss and its sometimes-unexpected beauty.
To Janssen, film is an art form featuring subjects close to her own experiences. After a number of short documentaries, she is now doing research in preparation for a feature-length documentary. She is also part of Next, the Playgrounds program for talent exploring the limits of the moving image in innovative ways.
In addition to her own projects, Janssen also accepts commissions for documentaries. These projects come to life in collaboration with documentary filmmaker Tamino Parren under the name Vis Film. They see their challenge as seducing clients visually with a portrait that has not been staged, resulting in original stories about people who reveal themselves.
Would you like to know more? I'd love to hear from you.
info@loesjanssen.com
+31 (0)6 40 999 477