Each of the films in Homeward Bound approaches the idea of home in its own way. They are about the desire to leave and the pain of staying, or the other way around. About domestic life, community and whether home must be tied to a building or a particular place.
Can home also be a boundless and universal idea, shared by people and animals? Does it exist primarily in the material world, or is it an emotional and philosophical place? And can film take us home? Writer and film scholar Anke Brouwers and film scholar Kate Saccone guide the audience towards possible answers.
The main feature is The Rugged Island: A Shetland Lyric from 1933, made by pioneering Scottish filmmaker Jenny Gilbertson. This ‘story documentary’ portrays life, love and work within Shetland’s rural community. Gilbertson’s future husband plays Johnny, a young man torn between his obligations at home and his love for Enga, whom he has promised to take to Australia.
This sensitive dramatisation of life on Shetland moves between fiction and documentary. The residents, landscapes and daily work are not a backdrop, but the heart of the film. The Rugged Island will be accompanied live by Scottish musicians Inge Thomson and Catriona Macdonald.
Homeward Bound is curated by Anke Brouwers and Kate Saccone and presented in partnership with HippFest.
About the Netherlands Silent Film Festival
The Netherlands Silent Film Festival (NSFF) in Eindhoven is the largest festival dedicated to silent film in the Netherlands. In this original form of cinema, stories are told through images, expression and music. Without spoken dialogue, the inventiveness of the filmmakers takes centre stage.
At the festival and through programmes presented throughout the year, NSFF makes the cinematic heritage of the silent era accessible to a wide audience. It does so through film screenings, educational projects, workshops and lectures. The creativity and innovation of early cinema deserve to be seen and heard again.
For its programme, the NSFF team follows current developments in the international world of silent film, from recent rediscoveries and restorations to new research. Audience favourites share the bill with hidden gems, all presented with live musical accompaniment by international film musicians.
