In 2010, Martin Verfondern, a teddy-bearish, German-born Dutch citizen in his early 50s, vanished with his car in a remote, mountainous part of the northern Spanish region of Galicia. Since the 1990s, he and his wife, Margo Pool, had run an organic farm and backpacking retreat in Santoalla, a dilapidated Galician village that rested at the bottom of a valley, as though it had slid there. They had met as anti-gentrification protesters and first caught sight of Santoalla while traveling across Europe in an Rv. They would become the village’s only year-round residents, aside from the Rodriguezes, an elderly couple who lived with their two middle-aged sons. For years, Verfondern had been entangled in legal and sometimes physical disputes with these neighbors, who had fought everything from his attempts to fix up the largely abandoned village to his applications to be granted legal status as a resident of the ...
- 7/18/2017
- by Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
- avclub.com
When Martin Verfondern and Margo Pool moved to a tiny Spanish town, they were looking for a fresh start. Then Martin disappeared.
The strange — and true — story of what happened to Martin is the basis of Andrew Becker and Daniel Mehrer’s new documentary “Santoalla,” the pair’s debut film which they directed, shot, and produced (additionally, Becker edited and scored). The award-winning film premiered at the 2016 Edinburgh International Film Festival and has enjoyed a healthy festival run over the past year.
The film follows “progressive Dutch couple, Martin Verfondern and Margo Pool, had only one dream – to live off the land, far from the constraints and complications of the city. But, when they arrive in the crumbling, Spanish village of Santoalla, the foreigners challenge the traditions of the town’s sole remaining family, igniting a decade-long conflict that culminates in Martin’s mysterious disappearance. As this once forgotten landscape...
The strange — and true — story of what happened to Martin is the basis of Andrew Becker and Daniel Mehrer’s new documentary “Santoalla,” the pair’s debut film which they directed, shot, and produced (additionally, Becker edited and scored). The award-winning film premiered at the 2016 Edinburgh International Film Festival and has enjoyed a healthy festival run over the past year.
The film follows “progressive Dutch couple, Martin Verfondern and Margo Pool, had only one dream – to live off the land, far from the constraints and complications of the city. But, when they arrive in the crumbling, Spanish village of Santoalla, the foreigners challenge the traditions of the town’s sole remaining family, igniting a decade-long conflict that culminates in Martin’s mysterious disappearance. As this once forgotten landscape...
- 6/29/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Oscilloscope Laboratories has rounded out their ever-growing documentary slate with the recent purchase of Andrew Cohn’s “Night School” and Andrew Becker and Daniel Mehrer’s “Santoalla,” and the indie distributor is planning summer releases for both features.
Cohn’s latest documentary outing premiered at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival. Set in Indianapolis, which has one of the lowest high school graduation rates in the country, the doc follows “victims of circumstance and a broken system, Greg, Melissa, and Shynika are optimistic that they don’t need to be on the wrong side of statistics.” The film “observes their individual pursuits, fraught with the challenges of daily life and the broader systemic roadblocks faced by many Americans as they strive to improve their lives in the face of adversity.”
Oscilloscope will open the film theatrically on June 9 at the IFC Center in New York, with national expansion in the following weeks.
Cohn’s latest documentary outing premiered at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival. Set in Indianapolis, which has one of the lowest high school graduation rates in the country, the doc follows “victims of circumstance and a broken system, Greg, Melissa, and Shynika are optimistic that they don’t need to be on the wrong side of statistics.” The film “observes their individual pursuits, fraught with the challenges of daily life and the broader systemic roadblocks faced by many Americans as they strive to improve their lives in the face of adversity.”
Oscilloscope will open the film theatrically on June 9 at the IFC Center in New York, with national expansion in the following weeks.
- 3/30/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.