The short film I’ll be free tomorrow has been withdrawn from the program of the Liberation Festival Drenthe. According to the organization, the film, which shows abuse and violence, is not suitable for the setting of an open festival site where young children can also be present.
“There is a scene with fist strokes and in the end someone is killed. That does not fit a festival where you are not supervising,” says Bob Bergsma, chairman of the Foundation Foundation Festival Drenthe.
Director Reinout Hellenthal from Assen responds disappointed. “We have been working here since last year, in close collaboration with the festival. They were enthusiastic from the start,” he says. “The fact that just after the premiere it is decided to delete the display, feels abrupt. We worked on this for a year with many people, on a film that should make young people think about freedom.”
The film is set under the Soviet regime of Stalin and is inspired by true events. A young Ukrainian woman ends up in an ice -cold prison because of her critical attitude, where she is confronted with oppression, violence and moral choices.
According to the makers, the story shows what it means when freedom disappears and why it is important to pass on that freedom, even if there seems to be little hope.
The film is spoken in Ukrainian and Russian and recorded in Veenhuizen. “Authentic and penetrating,” says Hellenthal. “But the violence is mainly suggestive. You hear it, you experience it, but you see little explicit. That is an artistic choice: you have to feel what it is like to be locked up in fear.”
Yet the festival found the images too intense for an unguarded audience. According to Bergsma it was a difficult but necessary decision. “The film definitely has a nice message, but at a festival it is not workable to strictly select who enters the room. You cannot prevent young children from walking in just like that. In a school setting it is different, there is guidance there. This film would fit there.”
Hellenthal makes a reservations about this. “If children of 12 watch Mocro Mafia, why would this film suddenly be 18+? There is no pornographic violence, and we have not received a viewing guide of 12+ for nothing. It feels like the film is not understood properly.”
He emphasizes that the goal of the film was to reach young people through the festival with a story about freedom and oppression. “That it still goes off the table feels like the door shut.”
Although the film of the festival program has been deleted, it will continue to be seen this week at other locations in the North. Cinemas such as DNK Assen, Luxor Meppel, Kinepolis Emmen and Groningen and the Library in Hoogeveen show the film for free.
This keeps the message of the film accessible to the public. “We hope that people will form their own judgment,” said Hellenthal.