Off Screen

Colour, 35 mm
Netherlands, 2005, 86 min
Section: Focus on the Netherlands

Synopsis

A 59-year-old bus driver who loses both his job and his wife after more than thirty years together, arms himself with a weapon and takes a security guard hostage in the entrance hall of an office building known as the Rembrandt Tower. He only has one demand: he wants to speak to the managing director of Philips, which used to rent office space in the Tower, the highest building in Amsterdam. The aggressor is convinced he has uncovered a major conspiracy involving secret codes which are transmitted via widescreen television... This disturbing psychological thriller, reflecting upon the issues of television manipulation and brainwashing, is interwoven with flashbacks from the assailant’s past which hover between reality and paranoia. A drama about a “man who knew too much”, the film won several awards at festivals in Montreal, Porto and Philadelphia and was inspired by real events which, on 11 March 2002 – exactly six months after the attacks on the WTC – shocked the city of Amsterdam.

About the director

Pieter Kuijpers (b. 1968, Tegelen) studied at Leiden University. A director, screenwriter and producer, he first made his name with the short horror film Darkling (1995). He also directed several TV series, spots and commercials. He debuted on the big screen in 2003 with the crime drama Godforsaken (Van God Los), which won three Golden Calf awards at the Netherlands Film Festival (Pieter Kuijpers took away two awards, for Best Director and Best Screenplay). After the psychological thriller Off Screen (2005) he made the adventure story for children De Griezelbus that same year, awarded at several festivals, and the crime comedy Dennis P. (2007). The box-office hit thriller Nothing to Lose (TBS, 2008) won the Jury Prize at the Philadelphia Film Festival.