IFFR Art Directions – My Sweet Elora
Art Directions is the space where the IFFR festival steps out of the screening room and pushes the limits of what cinema can be.
At galleries and artistic spaces across Rotterdam, encounter cinema in surprising forms: immersive media, performances, live music, and visual art.
Throughout the festival, you can experience the Art Directions installation My Sweet Elora on Plein. The installation reveals the hidden stories that have quietly lingered within a family for generations. Using film and photography, Luuk van Raamsdonk breaks open family patterns and makes visible what remains unspoken.
My Sweet Elora - Luuk Van Raamsdonk
Canada, Belgium, Netherlands | 2025 | 5'
My Sweet Elora reveals the hidden stories that have lain dormant within a family for generations. Through film and photography, Luuk van Raamsdonk breaks open inherited patterns and makes visible what has long remained unspoken.
In 1970, van Raamsdonk’s grandfather disappeared without a trace for three months. He returned without explanation. More than 50 years later, van Raamsdonk’s father had an affair. The fact that he was named after Yuri Zhivago – the protagonist of Doctor Zhivago, a film cherished by his grandfather – only amplifies the echo. Zhivago, too, lives between loyalty and desire, and his love affair throws his world into upheaval.
During his search for answers about his grandfather’s mysterious disappearance, van Raamsdonk finds a clue in the family archives leading to Elora, a small village in Canada, where his grandfather had a secret relationship at the time. To better understand this history, he travelled to Elora himself, capturing the landscape along with speculative memories and traces of his grandfather.
My Sweet Elora unfolds as a layered visual archive of photographs, family VHS tape,s and scenes from Doctor Zhivago, rhythmically interwoven with the voice of van Raamsdonk’s grandfather.
IFFR at Plein
Fenix joins forces with IFFR, the International Film Festival Rotterdam. From film screenings and activities to a kids’ corner and Filmclub events, there is plenty to experience at Plein from 6 to 8 February.
