Arts Thread

IJswee is a documentary film about an iceskateclub, a village and the warm winters. It’s a story about a community with a passion for ice skating and how they deal with climate change. In the film we follow Oringers, the inhabitants of Odoorn, through the winter. The Oringer all experience in IJswee (longing for ice) in their own way. Christmas tree farmer Manus thinks that we will never be able to skate again and that the winters will disappear. Treasurer Henk tells about the days of 15 centimeters of ice. Raoul, son of a farmer, had to stop skating in Assen after the ice rink closed, now he keeps an eye on the weather app every day in winter. Yet they also feel hope, ex-farmer and ex-chairman Jans is confident that there will one day be another Elfstedentocht. His grandson Jeroen, who became a Drents skate champion as a child, is sure that he will stand on the ice as board member in the near future. Director Okki also experiences IJswee herself. In her youth she could skate almost every winter and now she has the feeling that the temperature rise melts away a little bit of winter every year. You will also see the Ice Counter (Rafael van der Ziel), who builds ice sculptures and drinks frozen milk. You see the Drenthe countryside change with the weather. You see animations, archive images and you hear the mysterious sounds of IJswee in the music of Wietse de Haan. And there are two trumpeters who, with their music, welcome the winter and bid it farewell again.