Do Not Forget
Original: Niet vergeten

YEAR
2015

MEDIUM
HD, color, 16:9, stereo, Dutch, English subtitles, 20m 33s

DIRECTOR & EDITOR
Rachel Gruijters

VOICE OVER
Pascalle Benard-Timmermans, Jos Gruijters, Annie Gruijters-van Kemenade, Norma Hendriks-van de Gevel, Bea van Kraay-van Nunen

HOME VIDEO FOOTAGE
Gert & Bea van Kraay, Gerard & Ine Maas, Werner & Anja Timmermans

OTHER FOOTAGE
“De dood en vegetarisme”, Theo & Thea (1985 – 1989), VPRO; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Disney

SOUND MIX
Elias Heuninck

SPECIAL THANKS TO
Hilde D’haeyere & Anna Luyten

WITH THE SUPPORT OF
KASK School of Arts & Herculeslab

THEMES
Memories

AVAILABILITY
Please enquire

A young filmmaker attempts to construct a memory of her deceased mother.

Growing up it seemed as though everyone around her had memories of her mother, everyone but her. It was about time for her to have memories of her own. But how does one make a memory? This is the question artist and the director of the film, Rachel, asked herself.

In 1993, when Rachel was one-and-a-half years old, her mother died of cancer at the age of 31, leaving her without any memories. In the film we see her trying different methods to create, or even construct, a memory.

The viewer watches the director’s efforts to grasp and process what remains of her mother and trying to find a way to bond with her postmortem. Construction is done in a mechanic way: images, memories and objects are poured over through ways of webcams, computer screens, scanners. The memories break down into bits and pixels. It isn’t real, it isn’t the truth, just as memories aren’t the truth. They are just one person’s truth, as is this film.