PROJECTS
TEXT
ABOUT
NEWS
2013, triptych film, 12'00" min., 35mm film transferred to HD, color, stereo, no dialogue
The triptych ‘Play within a play’ reveals the sublime in everyday moments. A cup of coffee, a bowl of soup, or a spray of perfume transforms into natural phenomena that captivate, evoking a universal sense of beauty and human fragility.
As Hans den Hartog Jager noted: “‘Play within a play’ offers a powerful hint at the sublime, the idea that beauty can be so grand and overwhelming that the human mind loses its grip on it.”
In this triptych film, mundane moments spark extraordinary experiences. A man watches the moon’s reflection shatter in his coffee, his daydream dissolving into reality. A woman glimpses the sun as a fireball in her soup, sensing the universe’s vastness. Finally, a spray of perfume becomes a fleeting cloud of glittering dust particles, suspending time as the couple is lost in wonder.
Shot on 35mm in single tracking shots, the film zooms out from close-ups of cosmic wonders to wide views of fleeting human moments. The disillusionment lies in their transience—like a solar eclipse, magical yet ephemeral, echoed in the film’s closing scene. Through simple props—a dusty light bulb as the moon, miso soup as the sun, perfume as a constellation—‘Play with a Play’ captures the interplay of the mundane and the sublime, inviting viewers to see the world anew.
CAST & CREW
Concept & Direction
Yasmijn Karhof
Actress
Hannah Hoekstra
Actor
Tarikh Janssen
Produced by
Yasmijn Karhof
Executive producer
Daniel Nogueira
Director of photography
Stijn van Santen
Assistant director
Janneke van Heesch
Costume Design & Styling
Thera Hillenaar
Art Direction
Paula Loos
Set design
The Set Company
Sound design
Boon & Booy by Huibert Boon
Postproduction
House of secrets by Sven Neve
Focus puller
Saskia van Liempd
High-speed camera operator
Flip Bleekrode
Chief lighting technician
Chris Hacken
Best boy eletric
David Bells
Electrician
Tess van Kooperen
Reinout Bakker
Grip
Gripwise by Antoine Petiet
Makeup
Rahsan Memik
Still photographer
Christel Ooms
Catering
Food Department
Studio
Het Licht
Singelfilm
Equipment
Camera rentals
Film
Kodak Nederland
Film processing
Cineco
Film scanning
Condor digital
Colorist
Barry Clarke
Graphic design
Roosje Klap
With special thanks to
Stijn van Santen
Daniel Nogueira
Janneke van Heesch
Thera Hillenaar
Sven Neve
Jasper van den Brink
Poema en Rafaël van den Brink
And with thanks to
Cam-a-lot, Cineco, Bamboepark Schellinkhout , Louis Machado, Bobby de Groot, Marcel Oudendijk, Kees Starink, Daan Dillo, Henze Pegman, Pieter Kemink, Kees Reedijk, Wim Janssen, Hans den Hartog Jager, V.J. Joseph, Anna Hennerdal, Merel Karhof, Frits en Gea Karhof, Elodie Hiryczuk, Sjoerd van Oevelen, Annemieke de Kler
This film is made possible by
The Netherlands Film Fund
The Netherlands Foundation for
Visual Arts, Design and Architecture
Supported by
Kodak Nederland
Camera Rentals
Condor Post Production
House of Secrets
Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten
© Yasmijn Karhof, 2013
Filmography
PART ONE
A man sees the moon shatter in his coffee, his daydream fading as a dusty light bulb reveals the vast within the small.
PART TWO
A woman gazes at her soup as a fireball sun flares within it, hinting at the universe’s infinity and her fleeting place in it.
PART THREE
Perfume swirls into a glittering cloud of dust particles, halting time for a couple in a magical, ephemeral moment—mirroring a solar eclipse’s fleeting spell.
