Experiencing Interruptions?

Summer Trains Leading Nowhere

Summer trains leading nowhere is a modern city symphony about a place that has not been visited, a moment that has not taken place, a life that has not been lived. Our protagonist is the city, our villain is the deranged head of the observer through whose eyes we look. He travels great distances in search of peace but returns to the same point again and again.

  • Andrew Van der Ven
    Director
    Sunny Juliette, Chasing the Sun
  • Andrew Van der Ven
    Writer
    Sunny Juliette, Chasing the Sun
  • Andrew Van der Ven
    Producer
    Sunny Juliette, Chasing the Sun
  • Elmar Ten Kate
    Producer
    Sunny Juliette, Chasing the Sun
  • Rosanne Van Heck
    Producer
  • Denis Manuel Lim
    Music
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Documentary, City Symphony, Nature, City
  • Runtime:
    9 minutes 20 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    December 31, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    1,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Netherlands
  • Country of Filming:
    Belgium, Netherlands
  • Language:
    No Dialogue
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Andrew Van der Ven

Andrew van der Ven is a Dutch film director, writer and producer. In 2011, he moved to Brussels where he attended film school at the LUCA School of Arts (formerly known as St. Lucas). After film school, Andrew went to study film at Leiden University and Utrecht University in The Netherlands. Over the years, he made several short films and worked mostly on commercial video projects. His first feature film was Sunny Juliette (2017).

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Director Statement

"Summer Trains Leading Nowhere gave me immediate Albert Camus impressions" was one of the first reactions I got after showing the rough cut. Of course, it is an honour to be compared to one of the most important philosophers of the last century. The film is perhaps more existentialist and less absurd than Camus' ideas, but it does seek an answer to the question of what the meaning of -a broken- life is.

Summer Trains Leading Nowhere is a poetic documentary, shot right before the pandemic, on several locations in the Netherlands. It is a film about lingering mental illness, attempts to “travel” it, and the failure that always follows.