Misja Pekel | Netherlands , 2024, 50'
The Insides of Our Lives is a poetic film that combines fiction with found footage. A selection from thousands of hours of found footage - mostly 8mm material - tells the coming-of-age story of two girls growing up along a border in Europe, as the border gradually drives them apart. The story sensitively portrays what it means to grow up in a world where one day fences appear, creating an "us" and a "them". The film, though composed with footage of hundreds of different lives that have been filmed, is crafted in such a way that it feels like the life of one person.
Misja Pekel is a Dutch documentary filmmaker. His first documentary, about judges ruling on the future of refugees and migrants, premiered at IDFA in 2008. In the following years, he (co-)directed many documentaries for the Dutch broadcasting cooperation, some of which were selected for international festivals. His work is characterized by an urge to understand and visualize the inner world of others.
