CHAIN
Eicke Bettinga / France / 2014 / 22 min / Colour
Bulgaria: the summer of 1989. A young woman heads for the mountains, at sundown, with the hope of crossing the border. Along that road she meets a young man who helps her repair her bicycle. After a photo and an exchanged smile, at nightfall they separate, but meet again later wearing dramatically different expressions. Filmed in memory of the thousands of nameless victims killed while attempting to cross the border between Eastern and Western Europe, the film causes us to reflect, with images and minimal dialogue, on the absurdity of obedience and the inevitability of choice.
Eicke Bettinga
Born in Germany, he studied at the National Film and Television School in Great Britain. He has directed shorts, documentaries, and fiction for television, and has participated in numerous international festivals, including the Festival de Cannes. At present he is working on his first feature film.
Credits
Screenplay Eicke BettingaCinematography Krum RodriguezSound Ireneusz SzumlanskiEditing Michal KulebaMusic Jérôme RossiMain cast Ina Effenberger, Dimitar NikolovProducer Ron Dyens, Louise Bellicaud, Samuel Huang, Katya TrichkovaProduction company Sacrebleu Productions