Fokking Short

Award-winning, Dutch filmmaker Ismaël Lotz grew up in The Netherlands, always with a dream in his heart, an image in his mind and camera in hand. First with his dad’s 35mm SLR and then his Uncle’s 8mm movie camera, Ismaël could see the future when he looked through the viewfinders of those special cameras. The visual prophecy revealed his deep and meaningful connection to the motion picture industry.

Inspired by Hollywood and its artists that came through the TV, which he affectionately referred to as the ‘pictures box,’ young Ismaël began filming his surroundings. Panning the camera from his grandmother and grandfather to his classmates and friends, the young filmmaker soon discovered the strong potential of an often un-explored quality of motion picture production: the self-reflexive idea of turning the camera back on oneself. Whenever he was short an actor, Ismaël would take the task of himself, developing a bevy of interesting characters that sparked his love of acting.

Jump cut to 2017: now after winning several awards with his first international feature film Who is Alice, (co-directed and edited by Mr. Lotz) his international collaborations in ‘moving pictures’ lead him to Los Angeles, the movie capital of the world. Collaboration with the phenomenally talented cast and crew of Emily or Oscar has been an exciting journey into the depths of early cinema, already prophesied through those early cameras that the golden future definitely looks bright!