CINEMA IS LIKE A DREAM Cinema has unique possibilities. It enables us to move through worlds that no one has seen before. Cinema can mesmerize you, stun you, make you scared or let you dream. If you would be asked to name ten classics on your all-time favourite list there is a big chance that among them is at least a Kubrick, a Scorsese, maybe a Polanski, Fellini, David Lynch, an Orson Welles or perhaps a Tarkovski. Filmmakers, who used imagination to make the most beautiful films, However the Dutch Film & TV world finds social relevance and journalistic subjects more important than the power of imagination. Through this Manifesto we, the Fantasten (visionaries, dreamers), want to call on to all film and policymakers..

RISE ABOVE THE EVERYDAY STUFF Why do we hardly ever see a really scary thriller in Holland?Or an astonishing fantasyfilm? A comedy with a depth? An enchanting fairytale? Films do not have to look like reality to be real, forthright and authentic? In a different reality emotions, important themes and identification with the main character are just as possible. Why use only blue-gray colors just because we happen to live in a blue-gray world?

FANTASY IS SERIOUS BUSINESS Fantasy is for kids. Witches do not really exist. Most people know by now that fairytales often have very adult themes. In former days the most fantastical tales were told as fairytales. Mythic tales of good and evil, the people listened in a trance to the storyteller. This storyteller of the past is now the modern filmmaker. That is to say, the foreign filmmaker, because in the Netherlands the fairytale has been degraded to a bedtime story. In Holland there is the sense that you can only use fantasy when it is used as absurd. Farce. Parody or camp. Because, timetravel is impossible and you can not make a serious drama about aliens. Well:

ALIENS HAVE FEELINGS TOO!

REALISTIC FILMS DO NOT TAKE CHANCES To realistically recreate realty is soŠ average. It is the most ordinary way to tell your story. People think filmmakers are making something worthwhile and interesting when they talk about social problems in their films. But where is the imagination? Is it our great documentairy tradition that forces us to make realistic fiction? Shouldn¹t (film) art create new realities? Is realism deep and worthwhile and imagination shallow? Through imagination you can talk about philosophical problems and deal with universal questions like it has been done in every good film for years, be it a thriller, science fiction or a poetic film. Through an enhanced reality you can strenghten your vision and your experience. It¹s the interpretation of reality that is interesting. We see the Imagination as an ideal tool: if you can not reach people with harsh reality you can usually touch them with the power of imagination.

SAD BUT TRUE For fans of realism we have a true story. During a Sneak Preview in a cinema in the small dutch village of Nieuwegein the openig credits clearly showed that the audience was going to see a Dutch film. The people in the cinema started to moan: oh no, we didn¹t pay money to see a Dutch Film! Obviously there is something like a "Dutch Film". And this type of cinema does not get the benefit of the doubt. Because a "Dutch Film" hardly ever surprises, captivates, or is able to sweep the audience of their feet and head first into the strange new unknown. It is sad but true. Let¹s be honest: could "The Singing Detective" have been made in Holland? Dennis Potter would have been a lone man shouting in the desert. Don¹t we have the guts? Or do we Dutch have a problem with the idea that doctors suddenly break out in song? Do we lack the imagination to think up that kind of stuff? We don¹t think so. Is a Dutch "eXistenZ" part of the possibilities? Bioports and Calvinists seem incompatible. Act normal, that¹s virtual enough. The imagination is the victim of unwritten censorship. That is the sad truth. So:
BREAK OUT OF YOUR HUMDRUM LIFE !

We think realism has had its day. Fantasy has been on the backburner much to long. The holy fire must burn again. It¹s high time to open wide the doors of imagination. Nothing is impossible. Let¹s go for astonishment and passion. Be unrealistic! To make films is to dream.

WAKE UP FROM THIS REALITY !

Guido van Gennep, Elbert van Strien, Djie Han Thung, Erik Bannenberg, Marc Bary, Marian Batavier, Wiebe de Boer, Colette Bothof, Bert Bouma, Alfred.B.Broer, Erik de Bruyn, Job ter Burg, Mark de Cloe, Boris Paval Conen, Oerd van Cuijlenborg, Danniel Danniel, Tonnie Dinjens, Jan Doense, Ellie van Dooren, Simone van Dusseldorp, Gert de Graaff, Cécile van Eijk, Renee Fokker, Rene Goossens, Job Gosschalk, Hans Heesen, Noud Holtman, Bastiaan Houtkooper, Rinie Jansen, Sherman de Jesus, Bart Jilesen, Wim Jongedijk, Wolke Kluppell, Martin Koolhoven, Thed Lenssen, Victor Löw, Rob van der Meer, Brian Meijers, Tamara Miranda, Chris Mitchell, Ilana Netiv, Paul de Nooyer, Menno de Nooyer, Tim Oliehoek, Piet Oomes, Scato van Opstall, Merlijn Passier, Tjebbo Penning, Betty Post, Jelle Posthuma, Roef Ragas, Emjay Rechsteiner, Paul Ruven, Nestor Sanz, Orlow Seunke, Frank Schots, Tallulah H. Schwab, George Sluizer, Eric Smit, Michiel Snijders, Luk Sponselee, Jaap Spijkers, Marc Stekelenburg, Froukje Tan, Phil van Tongeren, Maarten Treurniet, Marc van Uchelen, Joost van Veen, Marco Vermaas, Bob Visser, Sander Vos, Jaap de Vries, Andrew Weeks, Jan Wich.

e-mail:fantasten@xs4all.nl

de Fantasten +31(0)20 3641033 / + 31 (0)6 29065526