The Garden

Shaped as a memoir and blurring the line between memory, invention, and confession, The Garden is a short fiction film shot on Super 8 mm film.

The film grew out of footage originally shot for a documentary that never came to life. I later reimagined the material as a short work of fiction: the story of a man revisiting his past and granting the viewer the privilege of a private confession.

Composed of images of plants and flowers, the film leaves the characters largely unseen, creating a sense of subdued mystery. What began as observational material became a personal, stylised work through narrative recontextualisation and visual metaphor, guided by a quiet rhythm and the interplay of image and sound. The imagery evokes memory, romance, and something familiar yet not quite defined.

I’ve always been drawn to voiceover as a cinematic device: how it can shift tone, reveal contradiction, or introduce emotional tension. I approached actor Bert Luppes to voice the monologue, then used his performance as the basis for the edit. Rather than mirror the words, the images move in emotional counterpoint, creating space for interpretation. The Garden screened at three online festivals and was featured in the Fotoacademie’s side program during Rotterdam’s Museum Night, where it was well received.

 CREDITS

WRITER, DIRECTOR & EDITOR: Margarita Kouvatsou
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY CONCEPT: Janneke Geertsma
VOICEOVER: Bert Luppes
CAMERA: Matt Kemp