Metamorfose

Metamorphosis by media artist Pim Zwier is a unique combination of nature documentary, costume drama and art project that paints a portrait of the German-Dutch artist Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717), played here by Carly Wijs. 

A pioneer in entomology, she was the first to record the complete metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly in detailed prints and engravings, thereby exerting a lasting influence on both science and art. Zwier combines his own footage of the pupation process, accompanied by music from Holland Baroque, with animations of seventeenth-century drawings and paintings and historical reconstructions in which actors such as Sieger Sloot and Pierre Bokma portray the people around Merian. Metamorphosis is a meditative yet compelling film about ecology, science, art and slavery, blending the imaginative power of Merian's work with the mesmerising beauty of nature.

Although Metamorphosis falls outside the genre of documentary, the film premiered at IDFA in 2023. Two years earlier, director Pim Zwier also received the award for Best Director for O, verzamelen van eieren in weerwil van de tijd (2021). After the screening of Metamorphosis at the Noordelijk Film Festival, Pim Zwier will be present for a post-screening discussion.