Spirit of The Wharf

– Cola Debrot

The city of Utrecht once was the most important harbour and marketplace in the northern part of the Netherlands. Merchants traded goods between France, England and the Scandinavian countries. Ships could easily bring their merchandise directly from the wharf through the cellars into the houses along the meandering canal called the Oudegracht (Old canal).

During four seasons Filmmaker Sherman De Jesus searched for lyrical and dreamlike images for his film without dialogues about the Oudegracht.

Like the vision of the child wonder Amadé, slipping out of the hotel at the Minrebroederstraat to go wandering with his sister Nannerl. The deep sound of the Dom Tower, the Time Machine. Age old stones smelling of water. Caryatids turning into flesh, fleeing from a hidden sorrow. People and things that have been thrown away. The naked lady cycling incessantly with a violin, waiting for the surreal painter Joop Moesman to capture her in a famous painting. Her face like a dreamlike gift. The endless longing.