Démontable

2014 – Démontable is a short film based on a 3 channel video installation by the same name.

War is waged on the kitchen table while a man drinks coffee. The world’s on fire. Helicopters shred his newspaper, a drone fires at a plate of broccoli. Démontable is a playful film on the absurd relationship between daily life and global news.

Démontable had it’s premiere during the 43rd International Film Festival Rotterdam. Among other festivals, it was selected for the international competition of the International Short Film Festival Clermont-Ferrand in 2015.

„a film that has a striking ability of colliding the distance between private and political reality. Industrial filmmaking tools of special effects and CGI are appropriated and scaled down turning the dining table into an absurd battlefield.“
International jury, Stuttgarter Filmwinter 2015: Sergio Fant, Maike Mia Höhne, John Smith, Mika Taanila. Démontable won the Norman Award at the Stuttgarter Filmwinter 2015

„a film that’s a technical marvel, combining live action, pixilation, CGI and stop-motion animation, painstakingly composited together into a messy, playful, angry and joyous assault on war and how it’s presented to us as we eat breakfast.”
International jury, Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2015: Cherien Dabis, Chris Landreth, Javier Rebollo, Antonio Rodrigues, Tan Chui Mui. Démontable was awarded a Special Mention in the international competition

„It is admirable that Douwe Dijkstra creates a powerful and balanced film while flouting the conventions of traditional filmmaking. Where most productions make great efforts to conceal the use of green-screens, Démontable includes a look behind the scenes in it’s edit. It is choices like this that make for a idiosyncratic and contemporary film experiment.”
Dutch Film Festival 2014 jury for the Golden Calf competition, September 2014. Démontable was nominated for the Golden Calf for best short film

„The refreshing mix of absurdism, surprising visuals and great craftsmanship makes this film really stand out in this very strong selection. Without the use of conventional narratives, the filmmaker presented us a mind-blowing bombardment of visual ideas, a critical yet humoristic view on warfare and above all a revolutionary approach on storytelling.”
Go Short Festival 2014 jury for the Dutch competition. April 12th, 2014. Démontable was awarded a Special Mention for the VEVAM Go Short Award for best Dutch short film

„Easily, one of the best experimental films of the year!“
Tim Lukas Leinert, Curator Filmfestival Oberursel, August, 2014. Démontable was awarded the second place for the jury prize at the Filmfestival Oberursel

„By reducing the human body, Démontable by Douwe Dijkstra, creates a new imaginary space and gives sharp social comment on the contemporary society.“
International jury, Videomedeja, Serbia: Mikko Mällinen, Goran Skofic, Goran Gocic, November 2nd, 2014. Démontable received an honorable mention at the 18th International Video Festival Videomedeja

„The best way to describe the media craziness of everyday war time news directly on our kitchen table. 12 loaded minutes of thought provoking, surprising and entertaining filmmaking.”
Sven Schwarz , Managing Director at the Hamburg International Short Film Festival / Curator at A Wall is a Screen, Germany on shorts.cineuropa.org

Running time: 12 min

Sound by Rob Peters
Title design by Bas Koopman
Démontable is distributed by LIMA, contact: theuszwakhals@li-ma.nl