A film by Suzanne Raes
Netherlands/Great Britain 2024, 81 min
NRW-Premiere
Followed by a film talk with Suzanne Raes.
The artist Harriet Impey was one of these children. For Harriet and her three older brothers, growing up ‘among dragons’ in Cumnor Place was a life of enchanted gardens, Arthurian legends and nocturnal sounds. Their childhood was a rare, fairytale time that fuelled their wildest imaginations and their greatest fears in equal measure. Now, as adults, the siblings who once played fantasy games and slayed dragons must come together to sort and declutter the family estate so it can be sold – and come to terms with their unorthodox and sometimes traumatic childhoods.
Where Dragons Live is an intimate and enchanting portrait of childhood fears, imagination and the enduring power of the family myths and artefacts that shape our lives.
Waar draken wonen – Director & screenplay: Suzanne Raes – Director of photography: Victor Horstink – Editor: David Arthur – Music: Alex Simu – With Harriet Impey, Edward Impey, Lawrence Impey, Matthew Impey and others. – World Sales: Film Harbour, filmharbour.com
Suzanne Raes
Suzanne Raes has been working as an independent filmmaker for more than 20 years. Her early films a.o. The Houses of Hristina (2007), The Rainbow Warriors of Waiheke Island (2009), and The Successor of Kakiemon (2012) premiered at IDFA and won several awards at international film festivals. Her film Come Closer about Boudewijn de Groot received the IDFA Music Audience Award in 2015.
For her film about the Rotterdam social service, Quid pro quo (2015) Raes won a Golden Calf, the most important film award in the Netherlands. More recent the co-production Ganz; How I Lost My Beetle had a successful theatrical release and has been broadcasted in the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland.
In 2023 her latest film Close to Vermeer ran for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, with successful cinema releases in a.o. the Netherlands, USA and Germany. The film was nominated for a Golden Calf and won the Special Jury Prize at Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival.
