Director's Statement

Incendios was created relatively spontaneously in the summer of 2020, with a tiny budget and an incredibly generous young cast and crew from Amsterdam. As in previous projects, I was interested in exploring the disruptive effects of gentrification and urban renewal, but this time through the eyes of teenage boys who do not (yet) have the political vocabulary to explicitly address it. Rather, politics happen to them and puts their sense of home and friendship at stake. On the one hand, their future feels uncertain and fragile, on the other, the boys just want to have fun and make the best of their time together. Parallel to this, I wanted to explore a vulnerable, soft masculinity in a context and life stage that doesn’t necessarily accommodate for it. In the end, they run out of time together and we only catch ambiguous glimpses of what their future might hold.

Screenings


2021
Hamburg International Film Festival, Mo & Friese, Germany.
Festifreak - La Plata IFF, Argentina.
Shortcutz, Amsterdam, NL.
Hotel Mokum, NL.
Nederlands Film Festival, Student Competition, NL.

2022
Leiden Shorts, NL.
Filmtheater Kriterion, NL.
Frameline: San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival, US.

2023
Roze Filmdagen, NL.