“The Waste Land is a film for people who like to leave their ideas about how things should be at the door. Like a lone umbrella in a stand that is never picked up again. Because you have to go out into the world, where someone is stuttering for peace.

April remains the cruellest month.”

                               Dana Linssen, Filmkrant April 2024.



with

Richard Sennett
Vandana Shiva
Guy Standing
Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer
Carolyn Steel
Chris Keulemans
Miriam Rasch

& others

music by Blaudzun

produced by Frank van Reemst & Joost Verheij
www.doceyefilm.nl

 written, directed, photographed & edited
by Chris Teerink


THE WASTE LAND had it’s worldpremiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) on Januari 31st 2024.

short synopsis:

Photo documentary The Waste Land is as powerful and elusive as the century-old T. S. Eliot poem that continues to resonate. The film juxtaposes Eliot's words with our current reality and demonstrates how our modern age is stuck in the confines of its own making.


synopsis:

A full century after publication, The Waste Land considers T. S. Eliot's namesake poem alongside our present, assuredly asserting that the words continue to resonate and to fuel our imagination. Filmmaker Chris Teerink offers no analysis of the poem, but instead seeks parallels. With a soundtrack by Dutch singer-songwriter Blaudzun, and using photographs and stills instead of moving images, he creates a slideshow that mirrors the fragmentary core of Eliot's language.

The poem itself is a tapestry that draws on material from Dante Alighieri, Buddhism and Hinduism. In this documentary, Teerink shows how these threads course through our present. As we listen to writers, literary scholars and other thinkers ruminate on Eliot's poetry, powerful imagery illustrates how the faith in progress literally falters at the boundaries of our society.

Stretching out from the cityscapes of London to the no man’s land of the Mojave Desert, and from ecofeminist Vandana Shiva's India to the borders of Poland, a recent site of violent restriction for those seeking refuge. The Waste Land is everywhere.



LINK TO TRAILER:



The Waste Land was released on April 4th
and can be seen in the following cinemas in The Netherlands:

EYE, Amsterdam

De Balie, Amsterdam

Filmhallen, Amsterdam

Koepel, Haarlem

Forum, Groningen

Filmhuis Den Haag

Lumen, Delft

Lumiere, Maastricht

Filmhuis, Breda

Filmtheater Hilversum

Focus, Arnhem

Lux, Nijmegen 

Filmhuis Bussum 

’t Hoogt, Utrecht

Chassé, Breda

Mimik, Deventer

Cacaofabriek, Helmond

Bibliotheek, Wassenaar

LantarenVenster, Rotterdam

Lieve Vrouw, Amersfoort

Concordia, Enschede

Sliekerfilm, Leeuwarden

LHC/Slachtstraat, Utrecht

Verkadefabriek, Den Bosch

and 

June 9th at Poetry International in Rotterdam

Bio:

Director, editor and photographer Chris TEERINK (1966, the Netherlands) lives and works in Amsterdam. He attended the AKI Art Academy in Enschede and the Netherlands Film and Television Academy, in Amsterdam. As an editor he has worked on numerous audiovisual projects including The Polish Bride (1988) directed by Karim TRAÏDA (1949, Algeria). Teerink has taught at the Jakarta Film School, Indonesia.

Filmography:

Ceci n’est pas une voiture (short, 1991)
Exil (short, 1995)
Amstelland (short, 1996)
Life and Death in an American Desert (short, 2002)
Mojave (doc. 2004)
Living Here (short, 2005)
In the Shadow of the Light (feature doc. 2006, co-dir Sarah Payton)
Gate 70 (2009, short)
Songs Along a Stony Road (feature doc. 2011)
SOL LEWITT (feature doc. 2012)
Rain (short, 2019)
The Waste Land (feature doc. 2024)

He is currently working on the feature length documentary about ‘Madness’