Documentary Films - Out of Competition 2013 / Wrong Time Wrong Place / Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Germany, France 2012
John Appel’s chilling film essay, contemplating the thin line between life and death, screened at last year’s opening of the world’s largest documentary film festival, IDFA, in Amsterdam. It draws on interviews with several young people who were lucky enough to survive Anders Breivik’s murderous rampage on Norway’s Utøya island.
The role that each minute plays in our lives can reliably be ascertained through various tragedies in which innocent people die for the mere reason that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Was chance, fate, or mere unforeseeable coincidence responsible for their deaths? And, conversely, can people speak of luck or divine providence when they miss suffering a similar fate by a proverbial hair? In his latest film, experienced Dutch director John Appel asks similar questions in connection with the Anders Breivik murders that took place on Norway’s Utøya island. Without the slightest tendency towards sensationalism or intent to reconstruct the details of the media-blitzed massacre, the filmmaker sought out several individuals who survived; in conversations with the director, these young people themselves contemplate the reasons why they in particular were spared. This chillingly intimate film essay, investigating the thin line between life and death, screened at the gala opening of the world’s largest documentary film festival, IDFA, in Amsterdam.
80 min / Color, HD CAM
Director John Appel
/ Screenplay John Appel
/ Dir. of Photography Erik van Empel
/ Music Wouter van Bemmel
/ Editor Mario Steenbergen
/ Producer Carmen Cobos
/ Production Cobos Films
/ Contact Films Transit International Inc., EYE Film Institute Netherlands
John Appel (b. 1958) graduated in classical languages and literature from the University of Amsterdam and in camerawork and documentary filmmaking from the film academy there. Since 1987 he has shot more than 30 documentaries, primarily for TV. In 2000 he and filmmaker Heddy Honigmann founded their own production company. In 1999 Appel won the Joris Ivens Award for André Hazes – She Believes in Me (André Hazes, zij gelooft in mij) at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). In 2010 he competed at Karlovy Vary with his feature-length documentary The Player (De Speler, 2010). Selected filmography: Radio Daniëlle (1988), Trench of Death (Dodengang, 1999), Thou Shalt Not Kill (2000), Naomi & Her Mother (2003), Senegal Surplace (2003), The Last Victory (De laaste overwinning, 2003), There Goes My Heart (2005).
Films Transit International Inc.
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Canada
Phone: +1 514 844 3358
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EYE Film Institute Netherlands
IJpromenade 1, 1031 KT, Amsterdam
Netherlands
Phone: +31 207 582 375
E-mail: [email protected]
John Appel
Film Director, Producer, Tutor / Trainer
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