Eye Conference Opening: Urban Frontiers
Eye Conference Opening: Urban Frontiers
Opening night of the Eye Conference, featuring short films by women filmmakers about old and young people fighting for their place in the world. In The Netherlands, Germany and Egypt, they all face inaccessible homes and public spaces, invisible barriers and discrimination.
Hastily categorized—by generation, social or ethnic background, or education—elderly people, street artists, guest workers, and children find themselves either welcomed or rejected based on identities often imposed upon them.
Pushed to the margins, they respond in defiance. Some create parallel worlds, others venture into unwelcoming zones, and a few joyfully trespass construction sites. The four women directors behind these films draw from the experiences of German, Egyptian, Turkish, and Dutch communities, all bound by a shared sense of rejection. Armed with their own tools, these groups either achieve their goals or carve out a recognized front, fighting for their place in the world.
The documentaries and short fiction films, all sourced from the Eye Filmmuseum collection, capture the tragedy of their fates, the strength of their struggles, and the freedom they seize. Met een nieuwe naam... gastarbeider and Sabotage celebrate the human bond and the power of community, each in their own distinct way. Meanwhile, Wo wohnen alte Leute? and La triste chanson de Touha are made accessible thanks to international collaboration between archives, bridging gaps and sharing stories that resonate across borders
Marginalised films because of their topics, their length or the gender and origin of their filmmaker, the margins here transform into stages for stories that demand to be remembered, spanning exactly 35 years in the heart of the 20th century.
Selected by the curatorial team and with an introduction by Lou Burkart.
Programme
Wo wohnen alte Leute? (Ella Bergmann-Michel, DE 1932, 15')
An architectural film about the “Henry & Emma Budge Home for Elderly People” in Frankfurt. Inaugurated in May 1930, the building with its light-filled rooms and central communal areas served as a model for many future construction projects in elderly care, offering them an alternative to the unhealthy and derelict city-centre housing.
La triste chanson de Touha (Atteyat al-Abnoudi, EG 1973, 13')
A portrait of street performers from the Egyptian capital Cairo. The artistry of this community of fire-eaters, child contortionists and other artists is captured, accompanied by a measured and haunting narration by poet Abdel Rahman el-Abnoudy.
Met een nieuwe naam... gastarbeider (Farideh Fardjam, NL 1973, 27')
The portrayed Turkish guest worker guides the viewer through everyday realities such as poor working and living conditions, predominantly through interviews with fellow guest workers.
Sabotage (Nouchka van Brakel, NL 1967, 17')
A children’s film about four boys who get into a row with the security guard at a building site because the growing number of buildings is encroaching on their playground. They devise all sorts of schemes to gain access to the restricted area and claim it for themselves.
This is part of
Details
Production year
2026
Length
110 min.
Event language
English
Country
NL
Part of
Eye International Conference 2026
On 31 May through 1 June 2026, Eye Filmmuseum, the University of Amsterdam and Utrecht University will present the 11th Eye International Conference with the theme ‘The Future of Film Programming’.
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