Sam du Pon, NSC, talks about his technical choices to put into images Sven Bresser’s "Rietland"

When he discovers the lifeless body of a young girl on his land, Johan, a lonely farmer, is overwhelmed by a strange feeling. While looking after his granddaughter, he sets out to find the truth, determined to shed light on this tragedy. But evil sometimes hides behind the most ordinary appearances...

Shot over 34 days (spread over two months at a rate of four days a week) entirely on location in Weerribben-Wieden, a rural area in northern Holland, Reedland gives the landscapes the leading role in the film. With a cast made up almost entirely of local non-professionals, Sven Bresser’s project intimately blends an ultra-naturalistic side that captures the region and its inhabitants on screen with a mysterious mise-en-scène much closer to fiction or thriller.

Sam du Pon explains the initial challenges of Sven’s first feature film : “Reedland is a very visual film. What immediately inspired me was the conflict between nature, the protagonist and evil. The landscape is certainly one of the main characters, on a par with Johan (played by Gerrit Knobbe, himself a veteran of reed cultivation). This approach of deliberately placing the landscape at the centre of the plot, is taking advantage of its evolution as Johan is confronted with evil. That led us to organise the shoot according to the light conditions, the weather and nature itself. There is a lot of storytelling in this film depending on the weather in each shot... Whether it’s the sun, clouds or rain, for example. So we decided to put all the outdoor days at the beginning of our schedule, on standby. That way, depending on the weather forecast, we could shoot either outdoors or indoors. Even on the scale of a single scene, if the weather was gradually changing in the fields, we could easily leave a scene unachieved and move on to another one that we absolutely wanted to shoot under the clouds (such as the fire scene). We had a lot of flexibility in our organisation, working in a small team with many versatile crew members as the availability of actors was not really a problem. Once most of the outdoor scenes had been filmed, we then concentrated on the second part of the work plan, which involved scenes with more actors and extras. For example, the sequence of the village school show at the end of the story. Finally, a few days with an ultra-small crew at the end of the film allowed us, with Sven, to bring back a whole series of nature shots, and transition shots that we called ’landscape sessions’.”

Shot on Super 16 film, Reedland is also a very subtle work of colour gradations in a very limited palette. “I really like the way film separates colours”, explains Sam. “For example, the unique way it makes red colours explode is something I can’t achieve with digital. The golden tone of the reed beds was obviously very important to us during the preparation stage. The blue sky too, which recurs regularly as a counterpoint to the fields. Also the texture of 16mm that turned the landscapes into an oil pointing like quality. So even,if we were to shoot this first feature, with non-professional actors, we were sure to do it on film. Especially since Sven and I had already shot a short film in 16mm in Belgium under similar conditions, which had reassured us on quite a few points. For example, how much footage you can reasonably spend on each scene. And that can vary greatly. Especially when you have longer sequences with a lot of dialogue, the ratio goes up very quickly compared to a simpler scene with less dialogue... But fortunately, Sven is a director who has a very good control of the technique and knows exactly what he wants from his actors. He often allows himself to shoot the same line three or four times in different tones until he gets what he wants. I should also point out that the making of this film relied heavily on staging and rehearsals. With a fairly precise shot list, instructions on lighting, the time of day when the scene is supposed to take place... In short, it was far from improvisation. That’s really what allowed us to shoot this film on 16mm.”

Among his visual inspirations, Sam du Pon readily cites the cinema of Argentinian director Carlos Reygadas (this year’s member of the jury for the Palme d’Or, director of Japón and Silent Light). “For that long scene in the car in the rain, we were really thinking about that shot in Silent Light where you literally see the first raindrops hitting the windscreen before a heavy downpour starts. Of course, we dreamed of being able to do it by shooting in a real downpour... But we had to face facts : it wasn’t going to happen, even with our flexible schedule in terms of the weather. This scene took us a whole day to shoot, cheating the rain with a vehicle equipped with water ramps in front of us. The presence of the rain makes this scene so potentially dangerous... even though nothing is happening ! Sven and I know each other well, we met in film school and graduate 10 years ago. Since then we’ve been working together, of course we do have cinematic tastes and common reference. And I think that this time, perhaps in reaction to our previous short films, we said to ourselves, ‘OK, let’s stop watching Bruno Dumont’s films !’ At the same time, we couldn’t help ourselves with Johan’s point of view when he discovers the girl’s body, with the ant crawling over her, a kind of homage that you’ll probably recognise from L’Humanité. Finally, and this was quite logical given the context of the film, we watched a lot of documentaries : Bert Haanstra for instance. but a very big inspiration were the documentaires of Vittorio de Seta. who portais the everyday life of the working man.
After all, our idea was really to start the film as a kind of very realistic about this man’s life on his farm, his actions, his craft... and then shift into a murder story and question this relationship with evil. Ultimately, this theme is again very close to Bruno Dumont’s cinema !”

While preparing the film and thinking about its form, Sam and Sven were particularly concerned about the choice of focal length for the film. “Sven didn’t want to rely too much on close-ups. We wanted to find the ideal lens to get a medium shot of Johan. We felt that this would really be the reference shot for the whole film. And after trying it out in situ, we realised that 14mm in Super 16 (roughly equivalent to 28mm in 35mm) gave us the best perspective in medium shots, and above all the right distance from our actor. It’s difficult to anticipate. It depends a lot on your feeling with the actor...” When asked about the anamorphic choice (a favorite of Carlos Reygadas and Bruno Dumont), Sam du Pon replied that the availability of Scope lenses was very limited in the Netherlands, and that the few tests he had done with this type of lens had not convinced him enough to rule out the spherical option. “When you decide to shoot in S16 and frame in 2.39, the negative size is really small, with the top and bottom of the image not being used. You lose a lot of definition, and I think it becomes very important to compensate by using the sharpest lenses possible and avoiding shooting at full aperture. That’s why we shot with Arri Ultra Prime. In the same vein, I decided to shoot most of the outdoor scenes on Kodak 50D or 250D, with the interiors shot on 200T so as not to lose too much definition due to grain.”

When asked about the real difficulty of choosing film in 2025, Sam du Pon explains : “I’ve been working with Studio l’Equipe Film Lab in Brussels for about ten years now, and I’ve been able to build up a good relationship with them. Nevertheless, I have to admit that we know less and less about how to produce a film in the photochemical workflow. We just lost the habit of doing it, whether in terms of production, the simple way do prepare and budget it correctly... and it takes a lot of energy from everyone every time. And in terms of lighting, it’s also definitely a more delicate approach. Film has much less latitude than digital in the shadows, making certain sets, such as Johan’s house, difficult to film at times. For example, in the first night scene, when he is sitting at his table eating dinner, I wanted to use only the single lamp in the living room as the top light to convey the extremely practical and functional aspect of farmhouses. To cut a long story short, the light as a very simple and practical way of lighting the meal, as the rest of the room lays into shadow. And yet, without everything around him disappearing into the darkness ! This is where the big difference with digital moviemaking becomes obvious. With film, you have to seriously consider adding light to bring out the shadows, whereas with digital, you usually try to remove light to achieve the right contrast. In a tiny setting like this, it can be tricky. To help me preview with Sven, I calibrated my digital camera during tests on the contrast of Kodak 200T film, which allowed me to use it on set to show the look we could more or less count on.”

Black is nevertheless very present in the film, creeping in as the story unfolds and evil insinuates itself into Johan’s life. In a key scene, a strange black substance resembling oil oozes out of the ground and even invades the farmer’s washing machine in the form of a mysterious black stone...
“In this washing machine sequence, we actually use much more obvious staging tools. First, there’s the analogy between the coffee cup and the black stone he finds after doing the laundry. And then there’s the slow tracking shot forward to the open door, leading into total darkness. It’s one of the few dolly shots in the film that isn’t directly motivated on screen, unlike the Steadicam shots when we follow him through the fields, for example. It’s our way of asking the camera about his possible guilt. The other option would probably have been to do this tracking shot on his face, but I think this almost subjective point of view that gets lost in the darkness works in a more subtle way. For me, it’s one of the shots that best sums up the film’s theme : is this man really guilty of the crime, or does his guilt simply comes from deep within him ?”

When it comes to lighting on set, Sam du Pon talks about his preparations with his gaffer, Thomas Jenninga. “The idea was not to sculpt the light too much in this farmhouse. To keep it very practical, very functional, as I mentioned. Little by little, as Dana appears, as he is a loving grandfather, he pays a little more attention to his grand daughter and the light becomes a little more welcoming, less harsh. Nevertheless, and this is something I often notice, it’s so easy now with LEDs to hide this or that small light source in this or that place or to adjust this or that colour or contrast on the console. We’re obviously more and more tempted to make the locations look almost more good than they should be. That’s why Thomas, my gaffer, and I decided in advance not to use LEDs at first on this film. We limited ourselves to incandescent and HMI lights, which are often more powerful and definitely less easy to adjust to a quarter of a stop... Only the big show sequence at the end of the film broke this rule, as the presence of numerous extras and the complexity of the scene itself forced us to resort to modern sources and their flexibility of adjustment. And I’m very happy that we did it like this... because otherwise we would have really buried ourselves on this scene !”

When asked about this big scene, which contrasts sharply with the rest of the narrative, Sam du Pon explains : “This scene was a huge challenge for us because it brought together a lot of complicated elements. There were a lot of extras, and also several children on stage for this show. It was very important for us to take advantage of the presence of all these people and show them, not just to shoot the crowd as a group, but to have a series of portraits, so to speak, especially for the last part of the scene where all the men are watching Aleida sing. When she comes on stage and starts singing, she suddenly has to be like a goddess, an angel from heaven. A completely untouchable creature who lights up the image. Certainly out of this world. I think the contrast between the two shots (the audience and her singing) works very well, with that male gaze hovering over the stage. Is anyone in this group guilty... or are they all simply guilty ? That’s probably the big question of the film.”

Reflecting on the Reedland experience and what he learned from it, Sam du Pon states : “I remember that it took me at least several readings of the script to really grasp the message and the essence of this film. There are many metaphors on the scale of each scene, and nothing is really on your nose . It’s a kind of ensemble that gradually connects and forms a unique whole. That’s also what I like about this film, this uncertainty that gradually takes shape. Actually, the first cut of the film was over three hours long ! And there were so many beautiful things that worked on a scene-by-scene level... but not necessarily on the level of the film as a whole. Sven and Lot Rossmak did a really great job of editing to get to the heart of the matter and keep the message we wanted to convey. And then it was fascinating to watch this man (Gerrit Knobbe) embody a character on camera who was very close to him but not him, of course. Filming him as he is, without artifice, rendering him as faithfully as possible in image and light. The idea of seeing him in tuxedo in Cannes, about to show the audience the life he has led for over 40 years in the reeds, far from the world of cinema, is quite crazy and already gives me goose bumps !”

(Written by François Reumont for the AFC)

Director : Sven Bresser
Director of photography : Sam du Pon, NSC
First assistant camera : Christiaan van Dijk
Second assistant camera : Berta Banacloche
Gaffer : Thomas Jenninga
Set Design : Liz Kooij / Clara Bragdon
Costumes : Rubin Burlage
Sound : Vincent Sinceretti
Editing : Lot Rosmark
Colour Grading : Peter Bernaers

Camera and lenses : Arri 416 – Arri Ultra Primes 16 series
Film stock : 16mm Kodak 50D/250D/200T
Post-production : Flow Post Production