Father & Daughter

A bittersweet short movie, set in the landscape of the Netherlands with its wide skies and tall poplar trees, tells the story of a young girl whose father departs in a small boat and disappears.

The girl returns again and again to the place he left her to peer out to the sea to search for him. Each return marks a passage in her life, from child to adolescent, mother and eventually old woman. Of course her father will never, can never, return. Yet the longing for her father always remains with her.
For anyone who has experienced a last moment like this, and many of us have, this poetic film strikes a chord. How often does one travel back to that spot, even if it is only in one’s mind?

There is no need to understand why the father leaves his daughter. The grief and a longing for his return are so intense that everyone can attach an individual interpretation, be it a lost father, child or love. In the director’s own words it is about “longing” that never diminishes despite the passage of time, defeating all logic.

In 2000, Father and Daughter won the Academy Award for Best Short Film

Director: Michael Dudok de Wit
Music: Normand Roger