The Clearing

Is the black mass at the heart of The Clearing gradually filling the frame of this enigmatic short film with meaning? Or is it a growing, but still empty void, clearing out the picture and rendering the film an all-encompassing nothingness? Turning charcoal drawings into digitally processed imagery, Rotterdam-based visual artist Marco Douma creates what he describes as an “indefinable space.” Assisted by co-director Roel Meelkop’s stretched-out abstract music, The Clearing becomes a haunting reflection on how space and time fold into each other. (International Film Festival Rotterdam)