Cloud Forest

A fairytale-like film in which five girls take us on a journey through their parents’ experiences of the war in the former Yugoslavia. A war which the girls haven’t physically experienced themselves. The narratives are a combination of facts and imaginations, memories and impressions, transferred from the parents to their daughters. It is in the shadows where these narratives can unfold. While the girls listen to themselves, the viewer becomes part of the intimate spheres of their family.

  • Eliane Esther Bots
    Director
    The Brick House (2017), We can't come from nothing (2015), Conversations (2014), The dome and the cone of silence (2012), The captain and the boy (2012), Gulo (2011)
  • Eliane Esther Bots
    Writer
    The Brick House (2017), We can't come from nothing (2015), Conversations (2014), The dome and the cone of silence (2012), The captain and the boy (2012), Gulo (2011)
  • Manon Bovenkerk
    Producer
    In His Bold Gaze (2019)
  • Elma Cavcic
    Key Cast
  • Amira Kulovac
    Key Cast
  • Alma Rasidkadic
    Key Cast
  • Amela Rasidkadic
    Key Cast
  • Matea Bakula
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    coming-of-age, war, family
  • Runtime:
    18 minutes 20 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 1, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    8,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Netherlands
  • Country of Filming:
    Netherlands
  • Language:
    Dutch
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Distribution Information
  • near/by film
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Eliane Esther Bots

Eliane Esther Bots (1986, The Netherlands) graduated in 2016 cum laude at the Master of Film at the Netherlands Film Academy in Amsterdam.
Her films have been screened at national and international festivals such as ‘Berlinale’, Berlin (DE), ‘Cinema du Reel’, Paris (FR), ‘New York Film Festival’ (USA), ‘International short film festival Oberhausen’ (DE), ‘Go Short’, Nijmegen (NL), ‘International short film festival Curta Cinema’, Rio de Janeiro (BR), Flatpack Film festival, Birmingham (UK), Kassel Dokfest (DE). She has been a programmer for the Go Short Film festival, Nijmegen (NL) and works as a lecturer ‘Moving image’ at the University of the Arts in Utrecht (NL).

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

How do you narrate a conflict you haven’t physically experienced? And how does this history influence the relationship between parents and daughters? The filmmaking process functions as an investigation of these questions. Questions, which I feel are essential to address in order to understand what this specific war meant for a second generation of daughters and in a broader perspective what the influence of conflict is on the narratives we create.
My approach to making this film is at once an intimate and adventurous one, from recording the one on one conversations with the girls as a basis for the film, to the work on the set (which is designed by Elma) where we created different scenes to find out if we could get to the heart of their experiences and it’s imaginative character.