The Road to Fenix
For five years, The Road to Fenix follows the transformation of a historic harbor warehouse in Rotterdam into an art museum dedicated to migration: a space filled with stories about what it means to leave, to journey, and to start anew.
At the heart of the Fenixloods on Katendrecht—where millions of migrants departed and just as many arrived—the latest addition to the Rotterdam skyline rises: the stainless-steel Tornado. A staircase, viewpoint, and artwork in one, designed by Chinese architect Ma Yansong. The construction of the Tornado serves as the film’s guiding thread: a spiral that unfolds like the film itself, with each turn revealing a new perspective.
The Road to Fenix follows the people who are building Fenix. Wim Pijbes laid the foundation and turns ideas into reality with vision and determination. Amid dust, steel, and art, director Anne Kremers maintains the balance between accessibility, depth, and nuance. Hanneke Mantel combs archives for photographs that capture the many faces of migration. Abdelkader Benali weaves objects, texts, and testimonies into a story about home, origin, and future.
Artworks by, among others, Beya Gille Gacha, Shilpa Gupta, Raquel van Haver, Hans Holbein the Younger, Willem de Kooning, and Efrat Zehavi appear not as mere illustrations, but as perspectives on departure and return, longing and hope, love, loss, and happiness. Beauty coexists with friction—around representation, origin, and ownership.
The Road to Fenix is an invitation to move along, through stories and spaces, ascending the Tornado to the rooftop, where the city opens up before you.
- Direction
- Mark Bakker
- Cast
- Anne Kremers (Zichzelf), Wim Pijbes (Zichzelf), Abdelkader Benali (Zichzelf)
- Duration
- 92 min
- RELEASE
- Thu 26 Mar
- Year
- 2025
- Country
- The Netherlands
- Language
- Dutch, English
- Subtitles
- Dutch