Fantoomwijk (2023)

*This film screening is a free event.

Theater Rotterdam loves cinema just like us! Especially when created by local talents. Every month we present a Short Film. On Thursday December 19, we’re going to present Fantoomwijk (2023) by Ravi Sandberg, a film about a vibrant working-class neighbourhood that has to make way for luxury housing. It depicts the destructive impact on former residents.

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About the film

Fantoomwijk (2023) is the urgent, unsettling, and experimental work by director Ravi Sandberg, about the Tweebosbuurt in Rotterdam. The bespoken neighborhood was demolished to make way for luxury housing, forcing residents to leave their homes. By using different styles of filming like infrared and drone shots, the viewer keeps shifting between opposite perspectives – between the system and those affected by it.

Fantoomwijk gives voice to the evicted locals of a neighborhood that was once a bustling part of the city. A gripping short film about the human cost of urban development, representing the global issue of gentrification in big cities.

The filmmaker

Ravi Sandberg is an Indian-Dutch filmmaker based in Rotterdam. In 2018 he graduated from the HKU University of the Arts Utrecht as an audiovisual maker. With his graduation film Rain, he won the NL Filmfund Wildcard and played at various national and international film festivals. His debut film

Seeds was made possible thanks to the Wildcard and premiered in 2021 at the Netherlands Film Festival, where it got nominated for Best Debut Prize.

Talk event

A live talk event with Ravi Sandberg will take place immediately after the screening. Roffa Mon Amour’s Director, Lisa Smith will be a moderator. The film starts at 19:00, followed by the talk at approximately 19:30.