In Ferno

People abroad know cameraman/director John Fernhout as John Ferno. As a teenager, this descendant of a family of artists - his grandpa was Jan Toorop, whose daughter Charly was his mother - was taken under Joris Ivens' wing, who taught him the film trade. The two cooperated with Ernest Hemingway and Robert Capa, Ferno also filmed for Henri Storck. But In Ferno mainly focuses on the films he directed himself. His first commission is extensively addressed: the shooting of an expedition to Easter Island in 1934. His black-and-white footage is alternated with contemporary material, while the voice-over reads from a letter relating his experiences. In the letter, he describes the primitive conditions and lack of time; this unfortunately made dramatisations unfeasible. Apart from an overview of Fernhout's diverse oeuvre, In Ferno also provides an idea of the ethics of the trade through interviews with friends, colleagues and his son Douwes (later his permanent cameraman).