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Constant, avant le départ

Documentary, 2005, 81 min.

The artist Constant Nieuwenhuys passed away in the summer of 2005. Thomas Doebele and Maarten Schmidt followed him in the final year of his life. They filmed the co-founder of the art movement Cobra during the daily, now leisurely walk to his studio, where he puts the final touches to his very last work, in all tranquillity and with well-considered precise movements, faithfully supported by his equally aged dog Tikus. 'I'm glad it's over', Constant sighs, and in the subsequent meaningful silence only a dripping tap is heard. Apart from the quiet and careful observations, we see short conversations with an occasionally recalcitrant Constant, his wife Trudy van der Horst and a few other people. The documentary is interlarded with archive footage from Constant's heydays as an avant-garde artist, when one of the works he made was the architectonic project New Babylon, which is now brought back to life by his son Victor.

won prizes

  • NL - Netherlands Film Festival Golden Calf (2)

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