Ramboy & Sezer's Summer

Programme

• Ramboy (Matthias Joulaud & Lucien Roux, CH 2022, 31')

  There are more sheep than people on the Irish island of Achill, but it’s also home to Cian, whose grandfather Martin is a sheep farmer. When school is over for the summer, Martin takes it upon himself to teach his teenage grandson the ins and outs of farming. Much as the boy likes helping his grandfather, it’s almost a full-time job. Cian also likes to play soccer, swim and hang out with his friends, and getting up early every day is a challenge.
  
  Calmly observational and with a strong sense of the imposing landscape, Ramboy shows the bond between grandfather and grandson developing. Martin is strict, but Cian understands: previous generations had no choice but to toe the line. A careful listener can hear pride and tenderness beneath his stern instructions on sawing off the rams’ horns, cleaning the stables and managing the sheepdogs. Meanwhile, Cian ponders his future, with or without sheep.
  

• Sezer’s Summer (Marina Meijer, NL 2022, 42')

  When her eldest son was taken into care, things only got worse. So Claudia is doing everything she can to keep her 14-year-old son Sezer with her at home. Yet, the threat of being placed in care, makes Sezer even more rebellious. During a long hot summer in Rotterdam, he often doesn’t come home at night, steals bikes, is sometimes extremely rude, and doesn’t mind her at all.
  
  While his mother appeals to social workers in increasing despair, filmmaker Marina Meijer also takes the time to show Sezer’s vulnerability. He is a taciturn boy going through a phase of “no stuffed animals on the bed, but you can’t throw them out either.” He may calmly go fishing, has to gather up his courage to jump in the river with his friends for a swim, and jokes around with his family. Sometimes these moments seem to have been shot in nostalgic 8mm, as if they are already languid memories of a last carefree summer.
  
  Nominated for IDFA Award for Best Dutch Film