The Eternal Children

David Kleijwegt
Netherlands
2006

Doors open, we kind of just go through.

70", DigiBeta PAL
Color, English

about the film

The Eternal Children is about a group of contemporary musicians, including Devendra Banhart, Antony & The Johnsons, CocoRosie and Vashti Bunyan, who share a common spirituality and lyrical understanding of the world. These members of the ‘freak folk’ movement all give the impression they must have been nomads in a fairy land before they decided to come down and make their music for us. ‘Freak folk is not definable aesthetically —it’s the principles behind the work’ proclaims Antony Hegarty. ‘It’s all about abandoning cynicism and making yourself vulnerable.’ For those who are well familiar with the passion and belief these artists’ work inspires in listeners, the 70 minutes of The Eternal Children is a blessing of music and love. When told through the playful, naive and yet alert words and lyrics of these young artists, the stories of our times emerge as hopeful. This documentary is the first in a series which the director has appropriately called Soulmining.

about the director

David Kleijwegt was born in 1965 in Rotterdam, and worked for fifteen years as a rock journalist at the national daily newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, writing mostly about alternative bands and interviewing rock stars including Bono, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger and George Harrison. He was the director of many rock shows for VPRO including Lolapaloeza (1993), Lola da Musica (1994) and then received the Prize for Dutch rock journalism in 1996. His next documentary Low will be released in 2008.

awards

screenings

February 14 Thursday, 10:00 PM AFM Fitaş Beyoğlu 1

February 20 Wednesday, 1:00 PM AFM Fitaş Beyoğlu 1

credits

share this film