Sven Bresser receives the FIPRESCI Award 2025 for his feature film debut ›Reedland‹. In its statement, the jury praised the fascinating, hypnotic effect of the film's images. The film explores the complexity of human existence and modern life on a deceptively simple basis. Elemental forces shape its meditative and metaphysical rhythm, drawing us into a world that feels both intimate and universal.
Reedland
awarded with the FIPRESCI Award 2025
A subtle feeling of guilt creeps over Johan, a reed farmer, when one day he discovers the body of a girl on his land. The crime won’t let go of him. As if driven by compulsion, he begins his own investigation. The grandfather’s new obsessive side, however, is neither well received in the village – where everyone knows one another – nor by the police. When suspicion falls on a boy from the hated neighboring village, the case seems to be solved. Only Johan keeps digging, determined to uncover the truth – in the process, he comes face to face with something dark and inexplicable, something that ultimately confronts him with himself.
›Reedland‹ is many things at once: a gripping crime story, a keenly observed social study, and a gorgeous landscape portrait. Rich in cinematic references and film-historical echoes, it is a visually striking, atmospherically dense, and highly suspenseful debut.
Director: Sven Bresser
Country: Netherlands, Belgium
2025 | 111 min. | Dutch
Subtitles: German, English
Cast_ Gerrit Knobbe, Loïs Reinders Screenplay_ Sven Bresser Camera_ Sam du Pon Producer_ Marleen Slot Rights_ The Party Film Sales