A Boy Named Freedom (2020) by Job van Aken

25 September, 14:00 – 15:50h | Get your tickets right here!

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Location: Podium Mozaïek, Amsterdam, Netherlands | Click HERE for more info

Film director: Job van Aken | Year: 2020 | Runtime: 22 min |  Genre: Short documentary | Subtitle(s): N/A | Language(s): Nederlands, English, Uyghur

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Synopsis 

NL | Een persoonlijk portret van een Oeigoerse jongen in Nederland. Opgegroeid in een verscheurd gezin, heeft Alerk te maken met de dromen die hem zijn opgelegd door zijn ouders. Aan de hand van zijn persoonlijke geschiedenis en de boeken en poëzie van zijn vader toont deze film Alerks zoektocht naar zijn eigen identiteit en zijn rol in het Oeigoerse conflict. Hoe kan hij zijn eigen dromen in evenwicht brengen met de dromen die hem worden opgelegd?

ENG | A personal portrait of an Uyghur boy in The Netherlands. Raised in a torn family, Alerk has to deal with the dreams imposed on him by his parents. Based on his personal history and his father’s books and poetry, this film shows Alerk’s search for his own identity and his role in the Uyghur conflict. How can he balance his own dreams with those imposed on him?

Programme

Contacts

Director’s biography: Job van Aken

In 2020, I graduated as a documentary film director at the University of Arts Utrecht with my film A BOY NAMED FREEDOM. In my films, I investigate to what extent we are free to choose who we are. To do so, I like to experiment with different art disciplines such as animation, dance and performance, and interweave fiction and reality.

I did an internship at the cinema department of De Balie in Amsterdam in 2020, and currently, I am doing my master’s in Sociology at the University of Amsterdam to build a broader foundation for the social themes in my films. After my exchange to Budapest, I am now working on HUSOM, a short fiction about loneliness and family ties among old Hungarian women in The Netherlands.