Eastern Neighbours Film Festival

5-9 November 2025 — FILMHUIS Den Haag

Beyond the Sea

dir. Anastasija Pirozenko

In 1973 a Soviet writer travelled to Western Europe to explore a newly built modernist town for her next sci-fi novel. The film follows her steps, while juxtaposing past dreams with present realities.

Beyond the Sea is a short fiction-documentary film about Emmen, one of the first planned cities in the Netherlands, and a home to textile and metal industry workers. Emmen was a social experiment, meant to become the embodiment of a committed, happy and united society. But the planned idyll did not last long or perhaps never existed. In this poetic, sci-fi-like film journey, a speculative fiction intertwines with the present-day narratives of the city, revealing modernist dreams and a complex shift in the history of its community.

VOORBIJ DE ZEE

The Netherlands | 2020 | 27 min

PRODUCTION: ThankEve, Katja Sokolova, EOdocs

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Aziz al-Dilaimi

EDITING: Stella van Vorst van Beest, Anastasija Pirozenko

SOUND: Ronnie van der Veer, Sergio Gonzalez Cuervo

Thursday 21.4. & Saturday 23.4. at 16:00h, Zaal 3

Special Guest: Filmmaker Anastasija Pirozenko

WORLD PREMIERE

News {{ newsVisible ? '✦' : '✧'}}