Michel van der Aa

In In Between Realities

Art

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Synopsis

In Between Realities

How does technology transform humanity? Do we need a body to be human? In his multidisciplinary work, composer and director Michel van der Aa explores the big themes of our digitised age and contemplates existential questions in the border area between humans, machines and consciousness.

 

Van der Aa re-energises the world of opera. Whether his VR goggles are on or off, he is always looking towards the future. In Between Realities shows him working on a new music theatre project, crossing the boundaries between remembering and forgetting, reality and unreality, life and death. Together with actors and avatars he forges new paths into the metaverse.

 

Credits

Character
Michel van der Aa
Director
Carin Goeijers
Country
Netherlands
Duration
17 min
Year
2023
Co-producer
Basalt Film
Michel van der Aa brings a new dimension to opera by incorporating VR and digital media.
Portret Michel van der Aa

Biography

Michel van der Aa

As a child, Michel van der Aa (1970) used to build labyrinths out of cardboard, complete with intriguing soundscapes. Today, he lets audiences enter alternative worlds in a different way: through his inventive musical, cinematic and digital creations. As a multimedia artist, he brings together various disciplines and leads the classical opera genre into new dimensions.

Acclaims

  • His music has been performed in 45 countries, by many international ensembles and orchestras
  • Film Upload won Best Digital Opera at the International Opera Awards (2022)
  • Winner of the Siemens Composers’ Prize in (2005), University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award (2013) and the Mauricio Kagel Music Prize (2013)

You can access Michel van der Aa’s website here ↗

Discover more about

The Book of Water

The Ammodo Doc In Between Realities offers a behind-the-scenes look into The Book of Water. This musical theater piece is based on the novella Man Performs in the Holocene by Max Frisch, about Geiser, a 73-year-old widower with amnesia.

This adaptation by Michel van der Aa and dramatist Madelon Kooijman puts extra emphasis on the continuous rain and floods that isolate the main character in his home. Therefore the play addresses the decline of both the climate and Geiser himself.

The Book of Water premiered on September 19, 2022, at the Venice Biennale.

Click here for upcoming performances 

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“Waiting for inspiration doesn’t work for me. I have to keep doing, failing and trying again.” Michel van der Aa answers fifteen questions about his work process and creative challenges. Read it here.
Award for Best Score
The Fine Arts Film Festival 2024

In Between Realities premiered at the Go Short Film Festival in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, in 2023. The film was also screened during the launch of Ammodo Docs at the Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam. Internationally, it has screened at several festivals, including The Fine Arts Film Festival in Los Angeles (United States) where it won Best Score, and On Art in Warsaw (Poland), a travelling festival presenting outdoor screenings in more than ten cities across the country. Other festivals include:

  • Art Doc Fest Riga, Latvia
  • Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival, San Jose, United States
  • Festival International du Film sur l’Art (FIFA), Montreal, Canada
  • Nacht van Ontdekkingen, Leiden, the Netherlands
  • SHAPESHIFT Festival, Sofia, Bulgaria

The film has also reached audiences beyond the festival circuit through collaborations with streaming platforms, including OperaVision, Europe’s leading streaming platform for opera, as well as with cultural institutions, educational organisations and other streamers such as:

  • Eye Film Player
  • ARTS.FILM platform (from FIFA)
  • Kölner Philharmonie, Cologne, Germany
  • Labocine
  • Catalogue of Amsterdam University of the Arts
Article in OperaWire
Michel van der Aa, Carin Goeijers and Sacha Bronwasser at the launch of Ammodo Docs at Eye Film Museum Amsterdam in 2023. Photos: Maarten Nauw.

Director

  • Portret Carin Goeijers

    Carin Goeijers

    Carin Goeijers (1967) is an independent documentary director from the Netherlands. Cinematic form plays an important role in her inventive way of storytelling. Her films have screened at several leading international filmfestivals including IDFA 2018, where her film But Now Is Perfect won a Special Jury Award for Best Dutch Documentary.

Curious for more?Watch opera director Pierre Audi in Three Acts.