films

World Reset

The film “World Reset” is a tribute to Alice Guy Blaché (France 1873- USA 1968), the first female film pioneer and film director in history. She made her first film in 1896 and her last around 1920.

Among the estimated 700 short films she directed, produced and/or wrote (most of which have been lost, except for about 76 pieces), is also the film “Falling Leaves” from 1912.

My video is a retelling of the 1912 film “Falling Leaves” by Alice Guy-Blaché. In my video, a woman performs a naïve but moving act in an absurd attempt to repair the overcrowded and therefore vulnerable world.

Visual artist and filmmaker Jaap de Ruig concluded from my video that ‘the man’ is busy demolishing nature through his ruthless overactivity. In his response, he shows that men are just beasts, who return to earth over time and can then innocently sprout new life.

The result is a video diptych.

HD video diptych / 2 min. 29 sec.

première:

PlayRoom Art Gallery_Zaandam_NL_October 2021

stop motion animation

World Landscape

Winding paths/rivers and atmospheric perspective are leading in my short film ”World Landscape“.

The grandeur of the landscape and the experience of traveling through a landscape are central. You move through the different layers of the film landscape. The distance is always shrouded in mist.

The landscape in the film is barren and apocalyptic in nature, as a reference to the times in which we now live (pandemic, climate change). But the tranquil landscape at the end of the film also offers room for new interpretation.

première: Cacaofabriek_Helmond_NL_07/06/2020
03:22 min. / loop
QuickTime HD
1920×1080
16:9

sound: Aline Bruijns / AudioRally Sounddesign

Faded

Our world is in danger of being lost over time; we humans do violence to it by the way we live. In addition, inner worlds are increasingly lost due to the decaying of the human spirit in the ever aging man.

Faded is a short film that can be seen as a metaphor to depict both these forms of loss. In this film Jacqueline Kooter’s handmade dollhouse from her childhood figures.

première: Kunsthal 45 Den Helder_27/10/2019
02:30 min. / loop
QuickTime HD
1920×1080
16:9

Dancing on a Volcano

In an unsafe world, a girl and a crane try to dance.

An animated short inspired by the story of the Japanese girl Sadako Sasaki, a victim of the atom bomb on Hiroshima.
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes have become a symbol for the longing for peace and a world without atomic weapons.

première:
online: Dutch Dance Festival October 4. 2020
on screen: EYE Film Institute Netherlands
Cinedans FEST_International Film Festival
NL_March. 2021

stop motion animation
4:40 min.
QuickTime HD / DCP
1920×1080
16:9

concept/camera/animation/editing:
Jacqueline Kooter

sound: Aline Bruijns / AudioRally Sounddesign

TRAILER

In Transit

an animated short inspired by traditional Japanese Haniwa sculptures.

Two paper figures share their life dancing…until the inevitable happens.

In the film two paper models of Japanese Haniwa clay figures from the 6th century come alive.
The original sculptures are called “dancing people” and are on display at the Tokyo National Museum.
Haniwa (which means ‘circle of clay’) are cylindrical terracotta clay figures that were made for ritual use during the Kofun Period in Japan.
They are hollow sculptures that decorated the surface of the monumental mounded tombs built for the Japanese elite.

première: EYE Film Institute Netherlands_Cinedans_International Dance on Screen Festival_NL_2018
stop motion animation
1:12 min.
QuickTime HD / DCP
1920×1080
16:9

In Transit_Jacqueline Kooter_still 1_klein

In Transit_Jacqueline Kooter_still 3_klein

In Transit_Jacqueline Kooter_still 5_klein

In Transit_Jacqueline Kooter_still 6_klein

Gysbreght van Aemstel

A cut out animationfilm based on a Medieval theatreplay (1637) by the famous Dutch poet Joost van den Vondel and based on the mosaic Gysbreght van Aemstel (1953) by Antoon Molkenboer that is located in the City Theatre Amsterdam.

Synopsis:
Set in 1300, it tells the story of the siege of Amsterdam by the Kennemers and Waterlanders.
The reason for the siege is Gysbreghts alleged involvement in the abduction and manslaughter of Floris V in 1296.
The enemy soldiers appear to leave, but smuggle themselves into Amsterdam once more,
hidden in a ship (as in the story of the Trojan Horse).
After a violent battle, Gysbreght van Aemstel is forced to flee his country.

I have used the story of Gysbreght van Aemstel to tell a universal, repetitive story about people who are forced to flee their country because of war and terror.

concept/animation/editing: Jacqueline Kooter
voiceover: Gijs Scholten van Aschat
sounddesign: Audiorally Sounddesign
dramaturgy: Aaron Rookus

commissioned by the City Theatre Amsterdam
supported by The Amsterdam Fund for the Arts

première: Amsterdam City Theatre_2017
stop motion animation
13:15 min.
Dutch spoken with English subtitles
QuickTime HD / DCP
1920×1080
16:9

Genius Loci

A short cut out animationfilm about the history of the KNSM area in the former Amsterdam harbour,
based on the mosaic “Farewell” (1960) by Dick ten Hoedt that is located in the former
arrival and departure hall of the Royal Dutch Steamship Company (KNSM).

Synopsis:
All of her lifetime a woman is waiting for her husband to return from the sea after they said farewell on the quayside as a young couple.
Overtime the environment has changed and
the former harbour area has turned into a contemporary living area.
In the end her adult son meets his girlfriend on the quay to end the cycle.

music by: Gustav Mahler
environment sound: KNSM island_Amsterdam_NL

première: Transit/Onderweg_Loods6/Bagagehal/KNSM
Amsterdam_2018
stop motion animation
4:00 min.
QuickTime HD / DCP
1920×1080
16:9

Afterlife’s Dance

a short film

Two paper figures in the afterlife seeking each other out to continue the dance; sometimes loving, sometimes not.

The two paper jackets (without the hands) are original Qingming objects from Hong Kong.
They are being manufactured for the Qingming Festival in China. This is the day for mourning and honoring the dead. People burn all sorts of artificial goods (entirely made out of paper) on the grave, so the dead are taken care of in the afterlife.

music by: Johann Sebastian Bach

première: EYE Film Institute Netherlands_Cinedans_International Dance on Screen Festival_NL_2016
short film
2:39 min.
QuickTime HD
1920×1080
16:9