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    • New Talents Open Call
      Eastern Neighbours Film Festival (ENFF) began in The Netherlands in 2008 with the idea to offer Dutch and international audiences a unique glimpse into the cinema of their neighbors from Eastern and Southern Europe. This annual event presents the most recent, exciting, and thought‐provoking films, from countries with small, but often powerful film industries, that… Read more: New Talents Open Call
    • ENFF 2023 On Demand!
      Unable To attend the festival in person? No problem! From November 27th to December 3rd, we’re thrilled to bring you a curated selection of this year’s films available for online viewing! Catch our captivating Opening Film Ivan’s Land, or the touching Closing Film Seventh Heaven. Or explore a collection of shorts from the New Talents Competition! Follow along… Read more: ENFF 2023 On Demand!
    • What’s up in Slovak Cinema? A conversation with Monika Lostakova
      We talked with Monika Lošťáková about contemporary Slovak cinema.
    • ENFF and the Eastern European Film Festival Network!
      The Eastern European Film Festival Network brings together five film festivals dedicated to promoting and showcasing Eastern European cinema, alongside one partner organisation.
    • Masterclasses
      Through these masterclasses we approach two memory in film from different angles: memories from a personal or collective recollection through archive material.
    • Work in Progress
      In Work in Progress, emerging filmmakers and artists will present their works in development to the audience and engage in discussions with Dutch experts.
    • Festival Timetable Available!
    • Check out the catalogue for our 2023 edition!
    • Music at ENFF
      Every year, ENFF brings special musical guests who bring beauty to the program and further represent the rich cultures of their countries to a Dutch audience.
    • Film Marathon
      Join us for the Film Marathon, a new concept in which we merge two components, Short Films, Big Stories, and New Talents Competition into a whole-day screening of short films!

Watch a Film in a Swimming Pool: In Praise of Nothing

Tuesday 25 September | 18:30 hours | De Nieuwe Regentes | Weimarstraat 63, 2562 GR Den Haag

NOTHING visits almost 100 years old swimming pool! Join us for a very special screening of IN PRAISE OF NOTHING directed by Boris Mitic on September 25 in The Hague. A breath-taking film shot in 70 countries around the world, narrated by Iggy Pop who inspiringly stated: “This was like something from the Renaissance or something…pretty cool”. The film will be screened in the theatre De Nieuwe Regentes, a former swimming pool where many Hague’s inhabitants learned swimming. For the first time, ENFF collaborates with this unique space which is now hosting lots of cultural events, including our screening. Special treat – the ENFF’s audience will hear more about this feel good documentary from the director himself! Come and join us, it’s a must see!

Pretty cool, said legendary Iggy Pop after narrating verses on amazing images shot in 70 countries by dozens of cinematographers around the world in the outstanding cinematic meditation by always lucid and surprizing Serbian director Boris Mitic.

Synopsis

A feel good documentary and satirical parable about Nothing’s weekend on Earth, in which Nothing, tired of being misunderstood, runs away from home and comes to address us for the first and the last time. To be able to make a simple narration and give chance Nothing to express itself, the director Boris Mitic made a massive research through 20.000 pages of the most eclectic bibliography ever used in a documentary film. Using an unique online platform, the documentary footage was brainstormed and filmed over 8 years by 62 cinematographers in 70 countries. The music was scored by cabaret grandmasters Pascal Comelade and the Tiger Lillies, while Iggy Pop lent his voice to Nothing addressing us in simple childish verse.

Director’s statement

It started as joke, a provocation, an intellectual game, but I quickly realized that Nothing is actually a very meaningful, legitimate and important documentary film topic. Nothing is so present in every aspect of our lives; it quantifies, qualifies and modifies every single thing that we think and do to such an extent that I thought it deserved to be given a voice and a chance to defend itself. The goal of this film is that each viewer experiences this positive potential of Nothing in his or her own individual way, through pure cinematic pleasure.

Festivals & Awards (selection)

Locarno IFF, 2017 – World Premiere | IDFA (Masters), 2017 | Sarajevo FF, 2017 | Jihlava International Documentary FF, 2017 | Visions du Reel, Nyon 2018 | goEast, Wisbaden 2018 | Munich International Documentary FF, 2018 | Beldocs, 2018 | CPH:DOX, Copenhagen 2018 | Shanghai IFF, 2018

Original title: Slatko od nista | Country: Serbia, Croatia, France | Year: 2017 | Length: 78 min | Director, Writer, Editor: Boris Mitic | Cinematography: 62 cinematographers incl. Roman Bondarchuk, Vitaly Mansky, Michael Glawogger, Alicia Cano, Nedzad Begovic, Teco Wong, Talal Khoury, Niklas Kullstrom | Cast: Iggy Pop (voice) | Music: Pascal Comelade, The Tiger Lillies | Sound: Bruno Tarriere, Ivan Uzelac | Production: Boris Mitic – A Dribbling Pictures; Anti-Absurd; Fabrizio Polpettini – La Bête