Go to content
Still

James Ensor - Duivels die mij sarren

Director: Hans Quatfass
Reconstruction, captured in associative images, of the life of the painter James Ensor from Ostend. Photographs, postcards and masks bring the gloomy painter’s entirely unique style to life.

For almost his whole life, James Ensor (1860-1949) lived above a souvenir shop in Ostend. The gloomy painter developed an entirely new style. Often deliberately naïve, he shows his fears, things that haunt him or fuel his rage. His expressive, narrative paintings, etches and drawings could be considered precursors of the work of Belgian cartoonists like Hergé and Kamagurka.
Amidst a cacophony of Ostend gentility and folk, gales, seaside visitors, domestic rows, blathering sailors, carnival masks and shell-ridden kitsch, Ensor grew up. What the artist witnessed in his childhood is brought to life in this film through photographs, picture postcards and masks. Bird’s eye views of Ostend symbolise the view from Ensor’s studio above the souvenir shop where he lived and worked as a salesman. From these ingredients, an associative documentary arises. Watching and listening, each spectator can compose the story Ensor wanted to tell.

Credits

Executive producer
Geluidsnabewerking
Sound Design
Co-producer
AVRO TV
The Netherlands VRT televison
Production company
RQB-groep
TV company
AVRO TV
Still
Title: James Ensor - Duivels die mij sarren
Year: 2010
Duration : 52 minutes
Type: Short Documentary
Edition: NFF 2011

NFF Archive

You are now in the NFF Archive. The archive contains contains information on film, TV and interactive productions that were screened at past festival editions. The NFF does not dispose of this material. For this, please contact the producer, distributor or broadcaster. Sometimes, older films can also be found at the Eye Film Museum or the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision.

Stills