Interview with Sven Bresser, Reedland director

Interview with Sven Bresser

How did you come up with the idea for this film?

It's always very difficult to know exactly where an idea comes from, but I think it started with the landscape. I myself grew up in a small village surrounded by reed beds. I was also interested in the work of Dutch artist Armando. His poetic notion of the 'guilty landscape,' describing nature's indifference to human suffering, allowed me to look differently at this rural environment that I have always known. From these experiences, a tone, images, and sounds began to develop together in my head. 

You are taking us into a darker world?

I find it hard to think in genres when making films. Rietland definitely explores a darker world. It deals with violence and a certain darkness that I’ve been drawn to since I was very young. I’m not sure why, but probably out of fear of it. Now I believe that if you want to explore themes like good and evil, guilt and innocence, the violent nature of humans, in an honest way, you can only do it by trying to pose questions and embrace ambiguity and mystery.

The film still has a certain luminosity ?

Yes ! For me it’s a film about light and darkness, and the uncertain space in between. The burning of cutting waste, bushes of other vegetation that grows through the reeds, is just a daily ritual for the reed cutters. But taking the time to show these routines they can take on different meanings. They connect us to the mundane, the reality, but at the same time they transcend reality and can become poetic or ritualistic.

There's also the intrusion of fantasy through these dark patches?

These more ‘supernatural’ elements are connected to Johan’s condition: by being confronted with evil, he becomes alienated from his daily life and ends up in an existential quest for some kind of truth.

It was very important that we don’t emphasize these fantastical moments with genre aesthetics that follow stylistic rules of a ‘fantasy’. I wanted to portray them with the same simplicity as when Johan eats a plate of potatoes, or how we film wind weaving through the reeds. I want to blur the boundaries between reality and the fantastical. The supernatural can feel real and the reality can feel magical.

You chose, with Gerrit Knobbe, a real movie character. Is he a professional actor?

No, he's a professional reed cutter, whom I discovered during my extensive research in the region (like almost all the actors in the film). Gerrit is simply incredible. He's a pleasure to work with. There's something tough about him, but also very gentle. From our first meeting, I knew he was the one.