Monddood

Without subsidy from the Dutch Film Fund, it is hard to realise a film project in the Netherlands. The criteria that the Film Fund applies nowadays make it increasingly tough for a filmmaker with artistic ambitions to receive subsidy, because the Film Fund judges submitted film plans by their commercial potential. So, in the long run, the creative film does not stand a chance, which will mark the end of the seventh art form in Holland. Says Jan Wouter van Reijen in his film pamphlet. Following footage of a self-castigating monk, we see 37 heads looking silently into the camera before opening their mouths wide, without making a noise. They constitute the silent elite, which no longer gets a chance due to the economic tyranny. Van Reijen quotes from news letters from the Film Fund and newspaper articles, occasionally adding sneering comments. When appointing a new director, the Film Fund considered 'an unbiased outsider' better suited than someone from the field. Van Reijen is glad that his pharmacist thinks differently.