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Trapped in the City of a Thousand Mountains
A film by
David Verbeek
Biography
During his second year in filmschool, he directed the feature film Beat with a budget of only 500 euro’s. It was selected for the International Film Festival Rotterdam, which immediately made him one of the talents to watch. After graduating he left for China, returning three years later with his second feature film Shanghai Trance; a cinematic portrait of Shanghai that depicts a generation of young Chinese, bedazzled by a city that is changing faster than they can grow up. The film was released in China in over 250 cinemas and in late 2008, David made the front page of the Volkskrant newspaper for being the first Dutch director to achieve this. He shot his third feature film in Taiwan, a Dutch/French/co-production. “R U There” is a multi-dimensional experience that was partly filmed in virtual reality. The film got selected to Un Certain Regard in Cannes.
After this he went on to make a number of arthouse films that won prizes at festivals around the world. Most notably for his film Full contact in 2015 about a drone pilot. Which was in the platform competition in Toronto and went on to major A-list festivals competitions such as Tokyo, Rome and Chicago. Verbeek currently lives in Shanghai were he is also active as a video artist and photographer. Video installations such as his two screen installation version of Full contact have been in various galleries and museums. Also his photography series “Ghost Month” and “Shanghai, Dusk till Dawn” were exhibited at multiple venues such as in The MOCA Taipei and the UNSEEN photo fair in Amsterdam. In his latest film An Impossible Small Object he for the first time appears as an actor. The film features his own photography work and is also cut into a 3 screen video installation. Verbeek has become one of the directors who’s work exists on the line between the film industry and the art world.
Filmography
- Trapped in the City of a Thousand Mountains – short documentary – 2018
- An Impossibly Small Object– feature – 2018
- Full Contact– feature – 2015
- How to Describe a Cloud– feature – 2013
- Club Zeus – feature – 2011
- R U There – feature – 2010
- Shanghai Trance – feature – 2008
- suicideholiday.net – Short – 2005
- Beat – feature – 2004
