Dinner with Visite

An interview with Sitjn Bouma, director of Visite

 Is the mother based on someone you know? Why did you want to explore those family dynamics?
The mother is vaguely inspired by both of my grandmothers, in combination with my own imagination. I have heard stories that have moved me, mostly about the difference of pretense in front of the family and the real life that is going on in such a house after everyone has left.

 Can you tell us about your filming style? Why does the camera focus purely on the mother?
​We decided to do this in one take to get a real sense of time passing and of inevitability. By cutting away we would release the tension, and the spectator, in a way. And the mother was most important for us because of her nuanced changes, as well as allowing the viewer to take in the perspective of the son.

 What are your cinematic influences?
​My cinematic influences are mostly old filmmakers, like Bresson, Angelopoulos, Bergman, Tarr and Edward Yang. I like at the same time the elegance of a long take and the possible harshness of a cut.

 Would you say that the short film format has given you any particular freedom?
It has given us creativity by being a limitation. We had to think hard and feel about how to achieve what we wanted to do, inside these limitations.

Visite is being shown in International Competition I12.