Shutterspeed

Joris has lived with his aunt and uncle in a village since his early childhood; his father died young and his mother moved to Spain. He is a quiet and introverted child who, his relatives fear, resents the loss of his parents deeply. The gentle rhythm of life, however, is about to be disturbed, awakening in Joris charged memories of his dead father. With the past swathed in obscurity and rumors circulating about his parents, Joris feels insecure and vulnerable and his attempts to reconstruct his family history from photos are continually frustrated. On one occasion the village teacher, an amateur filmmaker who records local events and celebrations, accidentally threads a film into the projector backwards. So Joris is offered a rare glimpse of his father only to see him disappearing backwards into the past. As Joris grows up and his aunt and uncle age, the end of his youth approaches, as does a definitive confrontation with his father. In a style marked by extraordinary elegance and subtlety, Erwin Mortier brings a lost world back to life.