Pluk de Nacht

Seize the Night. That is the literal translation of the title of the Amsterdam Open Air Film Festival. With a beautiful balmy evening last night, we set off to the edge of the Ij canal, just near Centraal Station, on an abandoned industrial site to join the crowds for this fantastic event.

This is a temporary site, set up for just a couple of weeks. The screen is mounted on several shipping containers, and everything else on site is pretty much housed in a shipping container - the bar, the projector. I always knew shipping containers were versatile...

When you arrive, the first mission is to grab your deck chair and find the best spot. The it is off to the blanket hire, 'cause it definitely gets cool later as the evening breeze comes off the water. Then a trip to the bar, and grab the picnic goodies picked up at Albert Heijn on the way, and settle in for a relaxed evening of "the best national and international feature films, short films, documentaries and animations that all haven't been screened in the Dutch cinemas (yet)." And the best part is that it is free!

The program last night started with a short film "Undressing my Mother". Directed by Ken Wardrop, it is perfectly described in the blurb - "In this moving documentary, an aging Irish woman waxes lyrical about her body, her life and her love". Only four or five minutes long, it was stunning and captivating.

The feature was a New Zealand film Eagle vs Shark. It is hard to know what to say about this film - at times hysterically funny, cringe inducing, and tragic. I ran in to a couple of Kiwi guys I know at the end, and they described it as New Zealand's version of The Castle. For those who know that film, such a characterisation should explain it well.

Perhaps this little grab from the film's website sums it up nicely:

"The Eagle of the film’s title is Jarrod Lough, a geeky, four-eyed video store clerk with grand delusions of martial-arts-hero toughness. The Shark is Lily McKinnon, a funny-talking, funny-walking, fast-food waitress with repressed romantic fantasies. And their battle is a hilariously bumbling attempt at finding love, and a bit of revenge, in spite of their oddities and illusions."

Although I probably missed some of the references, it was a great film, and well worth catching if you get the chance.

And what a way to see a film - definitely one of the highlights of the summer...

(Photo courtesy of Pluk de Nacht website)