In Pink Moon everything starts with a family dinner at Jan’s house, a man who is going to turn 75 in the next few days. The dinner goes smoothly for a little while, and everyone seems to be having a good time. Jan is with his current wife, and his adult children, Iris (Julia Akkermans) and Ivan (Eelco Smits). Suddenly the reunion takes a wild turn when Jan announces that he has decided to end his life just after he reaches that age. Iris and Ivan, well in their 50s, will react in different ways. From the moment she hears it from his father’s mouth, Iris would do everything to try to convince him to change his mind, while Ivan seems to accept the decision quietly, getting ready instead to inherit his share.
The film is directed by Floor van der Meulen, who at 33 has several documentaries and shorts in her résumé. Born in Netherlands, she studied Audiovisual Design at the Rotterdam Wdka Art Academy, later going to the School of Visual Arts in New York. Storming Paradise was her first documentary, and it was broadcasted by Al Jazeera Chanel, participating in several film festivals. 9 Days from My Window in Aleppo won Best Short Film at the BFI Film Festival London and Best European Short Film Award at the 29th European Short Film Awards. She later directed a 45-minute-long drama, In Exile, which won several awards in her native country. In 2019 she directed her feature debut in documentary, The Last Man on Earth. Based on a script by Baastian Kroeger, Pink Moon was her first fiction feature film, getting a Special Jury Mention in the Best New Narrative Director category at Tribeca this year.
Van der Meulen explained via email: “For a while I wanted to make a film about a father/daughter relationship. Particularly about a generation of fathers, that are very loving, but don’t speak that much, so they remain a sort of mystery. Especially seeing my own father getting older, the fear of losing him before really getting to know him was a trigger to make this film. And then there is a lot going on in The Netherlands about self-determination and ending your own life when you feel it’s complete, so those two collide on the film”.
She also stated: “I learned a lot making Pink Moon that I never learned in art school, and of course, it made me appreciate life more “, she wrote, explaining that one of the hardest scenes to film was the final one: “This was technically very demanding not only for me but also for Julia Akkermans, as she was in every second of it and had to go through an emotional rollercoaster for 12 minutes. It took us two days to shoot it right”, she explained.