Sophie and her thirty-year-old father Calum go on holiday to a Turkish seaside resort where they swim, play pool, sunbathe and laze. While a new world opens up for the young teenager, Calum struggles with the heaviness of life out of Sophie's sight. Twenty years later, Sophie's tender memories of this vacation form a powerful and heartbreaking portrait of their relationship, as she tries to understand the dark side of her loving father by taking a closer look at vacation videos and her own memories. Aftersun is a movie about searching for answers in your past, but it also shows how warm memories can heal open wounds.
Language: English, subtitles: Dutch
Genre: drama
The film is constructed as an intensely personal recollection, filtered through a haze of memory and imagination by the now-adult Sophie, looking back on things she didn’t really understand at the time. This tension between fact and fiction – between recorded and remembered events – draws us deep into the drama, causing us to examine every frame as if searching for clues to a hidden truth that remains tantalizingly elusive.
This devastatingly beautiful film is for anyone who has ever felt like or loved someone who had trouble coping. What’s wrong with Sophie’s father is never put into words. Is it depression? We don’t know, but we feel his struggle throughout the film without losing sympathy. Only an excellent film can do that. Bringing tissues is probably a good idea.
This film has been anointed the film of 2022 by both Sight & Sound and The Guardian.
Reviews
“Aftersun is a film about memory and regret, of finding small islands of warmth and happiness and holding on; a movie that beautifully struggles to say what is unsaid.” San Francisco Chronicle
“Rare and special is a film capable of summoning this much poignancy: a feeling which lingers well beyond the film’s final, achingly moving moments on screen.” Empire
“Aftersun cuts you in two with such emotional intensity, such impressive dramatic force, that I could only sit and fight back the inevitable tears.” The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
“Emotionally charged and devastating at times, Aftersun offers plenty of insightful quotes that will make viewers reflect on life and the relationships that move us.” Screenrant
Awards
· BAFTA: Winner - Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer (Charlotte Wells)
· Cannes: Winner - French Touch Prize of the Critics' Week Jury
· 72 wins and 156 nominations in total
Ticket information
This film will be shown at Filmhuis De Zwarte Doos. Buying a ticket online in advance is mandatory if you want to attend this film. You can buy a ticket by clicking on the black “order” button on this page.
Please note: you can only buy a ticket online; tickets cannot be purchased with cash or bank card at the ticket counter.
For more general information about tickets, refund policies, etc., please click here.
Please be on time
The screening of the film starts at 19:30 sharp (no commercials) and the cinema hall opens at 19:10. We kindly ask you to be at the ticket counter at least 10 minutes prior to the start of the film. This is to ensure the film starts and ends on time.
Are you thinking about suicide?
You can call Suicide Prevention completely anonymously on 0800-0113. Prefer to chat? Then go to www.113.nl . You can also choose to contact one of TU/e’s student psychologists via this link.
The Studium Generale film program is selected in collaboration with the Student Film Committee and Natlab.