Shifting Pictures live from Amsterdam: Met Mes

Met Mes tells the story of a successful TV personality, Eveline, who is completely done with presenting mindless quiz shows. She decides she wants to reinvent herself by directing documentaries that explore the intricacies of the modern world. With a questionable director’s approach, she decides to highlight the dramas of ‘poor and miserable’ people living in her city.

Meanwhile, Yousef, a teenager from an immigrant family, concludes that buying a new brand of sunglasses is the necessary step to acceptance from his peers. When it turns out he’s not able to afford them, he and his friend Redouan decide to steal the newly bought camera of an unsuspecting woman, who turns out to be Eveline.

When reporting the theft, Eveline exaggerates her story by declaring that Yousef was carrying a knife. Upon learning that this fabrication had dire consequences for the young boy, she decides to face her demons and make a documentary about Yousef and the unforeseen chain of events caused by her lie.

The film is set in a meticulously created retro-futuristic world that resembles our own but is in many ways off. Observing the intricacies of costume and set-design of this world is almost as exciting as the storytelling filled with deliberate tropes, a specific acting style with over-driven reactions.

The film is followed by a conversation on the topic “Stigmatization and the Power of Media“, where Sam de Jong is joined on stage by two more directors from the Shifting Pictures project: Marta Popivoda from Belgrade and Valentin Urziceanu from Bucharest.

The conversation will be moderated by Petra ter Doest, a former journalist who now coaches professionals in the use of social media. Identity and perception play a major role in her work.