Samuel and Henk Otte — Citizen of Two Worlds

170×205 mm/ 264 pages / hardcover / texts by John Mastenbroek and George Harinck / 200+ images / Bilingual (Dutch and English) / Design Hans Gremmen / isbn 978-94-90119-65-2 / Best of 2018, De Volkskrant / 37,50 euro (excl. shipping) / signed copies

In this book the brothers Henk and Samuel Otte follow in the footsteps of their great-grandfather Rev. Gerrit Hendrik Kersten, an influential Dutch Protestant minister who in 1939 went to the United States to give emigrant members of his church encouragement and support. The result is a visual road trip to the towns, families, churches and farms that Kersten visited, with accompanying archive pictures and diary entries.

Citizen of Two Worlds

Order of Service
Orde van dienst
Directed by Henk Otte
Netherlands, 2012
Duration: 7 min
Distribution by EYE Film Institute Netherlands


Synopsis:
The screen is split into nine blocks: the same shot of a church nine times. The church is Protestant, for the walls are white and there are chairs and no altar. First the light goes on, and then a man in his Sunday best walks over to the light switches and leaves the room once again. It looks like the same shot again and again, perhaps played at a slightly different speed. Or is he wearing a different color suit in the middle window? The precision with which these religious services unfold - there are nine different ones in total - is incredible, especially considering the fact that they are presided over by three different ministers. Playing the services simultaneously places the stress on form and the ritual. On how a child experiences it: you might not get the words, but the gravity and dedication don't escape you for a second. Additional pleasure comes in the form of the solemn procession of the elders once the congregation is seated, which seems never-ending in all nine shots.



Screenings:
2014 (Sep) WORM, Rotterdam
2014 (Mar) Riga International Film Festival
2013 (Dec) RURU gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia
2013 (Nov) Bucharest Experimental Film Festival
2013 (Nov) Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, Germany
2013 (Nov) Madrid International Cinema Week, Spain
2013 (Okt) Geestdrift Festival, Utrecht
2013 (Aug) Marathon of New Dutch Cinema, Amsterdam
2013 (Jul) T-Mobile New Horizons Film Festival, Poland
2013 (Mar) EYE Film Institute, Amsterdam
2013 (Jan) International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR)
2013 (Jan) GEM – Museum of Contemporary Art, The Netherlands
2012 (Nov) International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA)
2012 (Oct) IMPAKT Festival
2012 (Oct) UHM The Hague, The Netherlands

Nominations
2012 (Jul) Nominated for the Overduin prize at the final exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts
2012 (Jul) Nominated for the Photography Department Prize at the final exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts

Order of Service

In the 16th century the reformation takes place in Western Europe. The reformed church that arises from this reformation holds on tight to sober traditions, rituals and dogmas. It has developed into an institute that forms believing into organised religion. And specifies how christianity should be experienced.

The printed publication focuses on the local and national organization of church. It contains photographs of church councils, meeting rooms and church-buildings. Supplemented by organization charts.

Order of Service (Orde van Dienst)

A Faraday cage or Faraday shield is an enclosure formed by conducting material or by a mesh of such material.
Shielding is typically applied to isolate from the ‘outside world’.