The filmmaker lives in Ghent, Belgium. She graduated from the Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten fine art academy in 2023. Her work focuses on the representation of the female body and the value of the seemingly banal in human relationships.
What was your starting point for „Baldilocks“?
The starting point was really a multitude of themes I wanted to talk about and explore further. As I started doing that, it became apparent that the only way to bring the different stories together was to talk about my experience with cancer as a child. I didn’t initially feel ready to talk about this period in my life, which I hadn’t ever seen as anything other than an unusual story that had happened to some other child that wasn’t me, as I had no direct memory of it. After having a long talk with my parents about it, however, my father revealed that he had filmed a lot during my cancer treatment. While having collected different scraps and pieces of the film beforehand, these tapes were the starting point of a clearer narrative that was useful to hold onto.
Do you have a favorite moment in the film? Which one and why this one in particular?
My favorite moment in the film is after about 9 minutes, where I talk about my experience with vaginismus and fertility. In watching it I experience the same thing I did while editing: it’s the first moment where the different components of the film really come together, something falls into place. I’ve always worked around topics like intimacy and the (female) body, but mostly in abstract and visual terms. This moment in the film is the first time I explicitly spoke my experiences on these matters, whilst finding comfort in keeping them visually abstract.
What do you like about the short film?
I’m quite a lazy cinephile: some might say that being a filmmaker, I watch a shockingly small amount of films. Short films are kind to a short attention span. As a filmmaker, I think the short form is helpful in the sense that it requires me to focus. I love to work in an associative way, with one subject leading to an anecdote which leads to a big theme which I really wouldn’t be able to explore fully. The scarcity in length of the short film forces me to narrow down my network of ideas, dreams, and texts. Visually, however, the short form lends itself to spontaneous images and experiments, that don’t have to serve a longer arc. It’s lovely editing a short, as it’s possible to get into a flow in which thinking and editing almost merge.
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PRESS REVIEWS
„The documentary explores Peters’ battle with cancer during her childhood – a time she cannot recall – through the lens of her father’s camera.“
mention in The Brussels Time
„Il ne s’agit pas seulement de nous montrer un enfant souriant soumis à des traitements quotidiens. Avec des gros plans sur la peau malaxée, pétrie puis palpée, on comprend que certains soins continuent et que l’attention est toujours maintenue. Des mains qui frictionnent une sorte de purée jaune, une craie grasse qui gribouille sur la feuille : un jaune maladif, prenant, un soin des détails que la réalisatrice vient incorporer au montage. On ne voit pas son visage d’aujourd’hui, seulement ce corps massé, la nuque, les cheveux : un spectre sur ce qu’elle est devenue, sur un corps avec des séquelles mais encore fort.“
review by Amel Argoud for formatcourt
„BALDILOCKS impresses with the frankness of its protagonist, but also with the unembellished shots that not only show the fun-loving little bald Marthe with a tube up her nose, but also the tired parents next to her – who are also smoking (!)(you catch yourself judging and then immediately condemn yourself for it). It’s all about the fact that Marthe often has a guilty conscience because she suffers from depression and the expectation that she should always be grateful for the „stroke of luck“ in her (over)life. In this way, BALDILOCKS also makes the contradictions of recovery and healing tangible.“
mention in german by Marie Ketzscher for Berliner Filmfestivals
„Despite such moments of sentimental self-mystification, the 25-minute film, which combines old family videos recorded by her father and digital animations, touches on equally complex and controversial questions. About anatomical autonomy, the psychological and psychosomatic presence of diagnostically cured illnesses and the (im)possibility of complete recovery. The playful self-dissection in turn becomes a monument to the episodic eruption of traumas hidden in the subconscious.“
review in german by Lida Bach for moviebreak
„Opening up with remarkable honesty about her current sex life and preference for tube-fed food, this is a remarkable portrait of disease that casts cliché aside in favour of unflinching truths.“
review by Redmond Bacon for Directos Note
„Kaalkapje, by Marthe Peters is not only an excellent example for Caméra Stylo but as well one of these wonders which reminds us not only why Cinema was invented but at the same time why the short film, the oldest format of filmmaking since the beginning of cinema is still as vital like 129 years ago. (…) Kaallapje is a short but unforgettable and very intense film experience.“
review by Rüdiger Tomczak for shomingekiblog
„In an able-bodied world, which privileges the language of survival, battle and heroism in talking about cancer patients, Baldilocks functions as a rejection of standard tropes by taking a matter-of-fact manner. Frustrated with declarations by doctors that she’s a ‘medical miracle’, Peters prioritises the banality and ‘normalness’ of her youth — most frequently we see her as a child playing and laughing. It’s in stark contrast to the way she talks about herself in the present tense, seemingly worn down by the constant strain on her body, and its attendant mental health issues. There are no easy, obvious answers to life after cancer, and there are no easy, obvious answers to life when chronically ill. Peters’ response is not an acceptance of that, but an attempt to grapple with it in the present day. That’s precisely why it’s one of the best films in this programme.“
review by Fedor Tot for Journey into Cinema
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ETC.
„The way Kaalkapje talks about the filmmaker’s own cancer and its long-term physical as well as psychological consequences makes this film very unique and touching.“
interview with section head Anna Henckel-Donnersmarck for Berlinale Topics
Reactions on letterboxd
Berlinale Shorts 