In 1974, Johan van der Keuken was thirty-six years old, a father of three and had already made some of his most beautiful movies. In The Filmmaker’s Holiday, he allows himself to film the carefree days spent with his family in a village in southern France. The unsteady steps of his youngest son “Chubby” mirror those of the neighbour suffering from Parkinson’s. We witness the encounter of two ages of life and two worlds, the Dutch holidaymakers and the last inhabitants of a hamlet abandoned by young people. Freely associating, the filmmaker composes a contemplation of life, death and the passing of time, set to the bitter-sweet notes of the saxophone of his friend Ben Webster, who died a few months earlier – we savour this blend of gravity and levity. The magic of an eternal present immortalised on film. Unforgettable images about cinema and life. To us, “Chubby” will always be three years old!

Éva Tourrent
Filmmaker and Tënk France’s Artistic Director