April 30, 2007
Full length feature film shot with a cameraphone
For more than a year, filmmaker Cyrus Frisch heard and observed growing tensions between Dutch and immigrant kids beneath his office window in central Amsterdam. By The Huffington Post covering the 6th annual Tribecca Film Festiaval.
"As he worked on another film, he began shooting the heckling occurring in the plaza - with his cell phone camera. The 70-minute avant garde piece is nearly without dialogue and is seen through the perspective of an Afghan war veteran played by Frisch. The result is Why Didn't Anybody Tell Me It Would Become This Bad in Afghanistan. " ...
Storyline from The San Francisco International Film Festival: "Told through the eyes of a traumatized Dutch soldier who has returned home from a tour of Afghanistan, Why didn’t anybody . . . documents the brewing tensions between native Dutch citizenry, immigrant youth and the police in a small square in the heart of Amsterdam.
In this decidedly experimental work, shot almost entirely with a cell phone video camera, these tensions are made palpable through a process of accumulation. Scene after scene of youths gathering, police detentions and aimless protests are lensed from a claustrophobic, subjective viewpoint.
The film also happens to be the first feature-length work shot on a cell phone to screen at the Rotterdam International Film Festival making it the first such work to premiere at any international festival of prestige worldwide. "
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