Artist Statement

My name is Michelle ten Cate, a 22-year-old Media and Culture student at the University of Amsterdam. Currently I'm an exchange student at Hunter College in New York City. Growing up I always knew that one day I'd leave my small town life behind, and when I turned 18 I did. I've lived in France twice, in Australia, in Haarlem (close to Amsterdam) and now I live in the United States. I take a lot of inspiration from the places I visit, and I'm not planning on stopping anytime soon because becoming a film producer is my dream so I can use all the inspiration I can get.

My style of filmmaking involves heaps of symbolism, images that people are encouraged to think about. It contains shock-value, not as intense as Lars von Trier's movies, but more up Quentin Tarantino's alley. Movies with interesting timelines, like Dunkirk, or different layers, like Inception. They should somewhat mess with people's minds, maybe even confuse them. Needless to say that Christopher Nolan is a huge inspiration to me. I prefer movies with deep implicit meanings, I want my movies to tell more than people first think.

The Joker from Christopher Nolan's
The Dark Knight (2008)

Justine from Lars von Trier's
Melancholia (2011)

Mia Wallace from Quentin Tarantino's
Pulp Fiction (1994)

Take a scène from The Big Lebowski, shoot it yourself, but change the genre. Sounds like a challenge, which it was, but it also was one of my favourite projects I’ve worked on as a producer. We decided to transform our chosen scene (Where’s the money Lebowski?) into one that could’ve been shot by Lars von Trier. It totally matched my personal filmmaking style: it had shock-value, it messed with people’s minds and it had a deeper implicit meaning. But of course, who wouldn’t be shocked by an incestuous relationship between a Christian brother and sister? Or when a priest convinces the brother that his sister should be cleaned of her sins in a swamp? Or when the priest actually drowns the sister because she can’t be saved in his eyes? Like I said; confusion and shock-value.

Filming process of Eve 

The Priest from Eve

The Priest, brother and sister from
Eve

Opstoot is another project I’m extremely proud of. It’s a documentary about a girl in a man’s world. A female boxer who is preparing for her first fight. We were there to film the first time she would set foot in the boxing ring and do a sparring match with a male boxer. We wanted to emphasize her strength, her courage, and her stamina. Though documentary filmmaking was slightly harder because we had to improvise at certain moments, for example in the ring, I did develop a love for this style.

 

Filmposter of Opstoot