Yasmijn Karhof - Rain, Sugar, Eye

Rain, Sugar, Eye

2006-07, triptych film, S16mm transferred to HD, 12'30", single shot, stereo, no dialogue
Images above: 2023, Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam (NL) and 2011, 42–24h Off Screen, Fuoricampo Gallery, Siena (IT)

‘Rain, Sugar, Eye’ is a cinematic triptych that captures thoughts and makes them tangible. In one unbroken flowing shot per film, the camera shifts from a wide view to a close-up, where the protagonists fixate on a detail—a raindrop, a mound of sugar, an eye. Through this intense focus, they uncover another world, deeply altering their perception of reality. The climax in ‘Rain, Sugar, Eye’ lies in an extreme close-up that reveals itself as a total shot—a zoom-in that, paradoxically, also zooms out.

The films explore how everyday elements—rain, sugar, smoke—transform into emotional reflections, offering a visual whisper of the characters’ inner states, suggestive and wordless. They hover on the boundary between reality and imagination, where scale and continuity fade. This triptych questions how our psyche shapes the world in interplay with what we see.

RAIN
In ‘Rain’, a woman gazes intently from a car’s backseat at raindrops sliding down the window like tears. She fixes her eyes on a single drop and sees the world distorted and upside-down. The outside world takes on shifting forms within the drops, a fragmented reality detached from within. This window, a divide between inside and out, keeps the outside at bay yet stirs a deep sense of separation. She realizes reality is elusive, existing in what she perceives.

SUGAR
In ‘Sugar’, a woman playfully examines a mound of sugar in her hand, blowing smoke over it. Everyday elements—sugar, smoke, a window view—turn into a glistening crystalline landscape with drifting clouds. Through her longing, distorted gaze, ‘nothing’ becomes ‘something,’ and the mundane undergoes a metamorphosis: a microcosm where scale blurs and reality takes on a new form.

EYE
In ‘Eye’, a man and woman stare deeply into each other’s eyes, their longing palpable in gestures and touches. As their gazes meet, her face reflects in his iris—a closeness that reveals an unbridgeable distance. Seen through his emotional frame, this reflection shows a yearning for symbiosis and the realization of its impossibility. The gaze in ‘Eye’ lays bare the tragedy of love.

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Acknowledgement more

CAST & CREW

Concept & Direction
Yasmijn Karhof

Actress
Gonny Gaakeer

Camera
Stijn van Santen

Focus puller
Pim Tjureman

Grip
Cees Aloserij

First assistant
Janneke van Heesch

Post production
Dusi / Joris Schenk

Technical advise
Tungsten Studio

Driver
Merel Karhof

Still photographer
Sjoerd van Oevelen

Assistant
Barbara Otten

'Sugar'
Smoking girl
Yasmijn Karhof

Camera
Stijn van Santen

Focus puller
Lonneke Worm

First assistant
Janneke van Heesch

Grip
Meiro Koizumi

Driver
Merel Karhof

'Eye'
Actor
Dragan Bakema

Actress
Paméla Menzo

Camera
Benito Strangio

Focus puller
Pim Tjureman

Grip
Arjen Oosterbaan

First assistant
Merel Karhof

Second Assistant
Sjoerd van Oevelen

Sound
Melcher Meirmans

Technical advise
Stijn van Santen

Mastering
Hein Sassen

With special thanks to
Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten
Holland Equipment
Valkieser Capital Images
Kodak Nederland
Tungsten Studio

And thanks to
Singel film, Cineco, Condor, REC sound, EFF, Cam-a-lot, Jasper van den Brink, Martin Grootenboer, Stijn van Santen, Janneke van Heesch, Merel Karhof, Frits & Gea Karhof, Stefan Kuderna, Roy Taylor, Kees Reedijk, Isaac Carlos, Pieter Kemink, Wim Janssen, Mark de Cloe, Narda Alvarado, Eylem Aladogan, Gal Kinan, Tomoko Kawachi, Peggy Franck, Stefananos Tsivopoulos, Alon Levin

This film is made possible by
The Netherlands Film Fund

© Yasmijn Karhof, 2007