cinematography
Douwe Hennink
editing
Sander Vos
music
Ella van der Woude
sound
Vincent Sinceretti
production design
Miha Knific
costumes
Anne-Sophie Raemy

cast
Reinout Scholten van Aschat
Gijs Scholten van Aschat
Pia Amofa
Julien Genoud
Daria Fuchs
Kaija Lederberger

producer
Frank Hoeve
co-producers
Magdalena Welter
Louis Mataré
Jožko Rutar
Miha Černec
production
BALDR Film
co-productions
Lomotion
Staragara
in collaboration with
VPRO
SRF
Blu
with the support of
Netherlands Film Fund
Netherlands Film Production Incentive
CoBO
Creative Europe Media
Federal Office of culture – FISS
Burgermeinde
Slovenian Film Centre

international press office
Mirjam Wiekenkamp
mirjam@noisefilmpr.com
www.noisefilmpr.com

After his mother passes away, Rein moves to a small village in the Alps to be immersed in nature, meditate and work as a snowboard teacher. His quiet bubble bursts when his extroverted father Gijs comes to visit. Gijs quickly takes center stage on a back country ski tour with Rein and his friends. He charms the youngsters and flirts with Rein’s new girlfriend Laura, leaving no room for his son. It isn’t long before Rein has had enough. He drags his father away from the group and they continue their hike up the mountain alone. The tension between the two men is palpable. Gijs feels increasingly uncomfortable with the steep and dangerous terrain but Rein presses on to the top, ignoring his father’s pleas to walk back down. It isn’t long before nature violently lashes out, turning their petty struggle for dominance into a full-blown quest for survival.

2024 Alpha.
2014 Atlantic.
2006 Nu.

“Alpha. is a film about the changing nature of masculinity in our society. It slowly strips a father and son of their modern Western privileges, their technology, their personal grievances and their egos, leaving them naked in the face of nature. The film may start in the noisy and cluttered environment of a ski resort, but the story culminates on the silent, frozen and unforgiving snowfields and rock-faces of the high Alps. Initially framed in rigid, fixed shots accompanied by harsh mechanical sounds and neurotic music, the two men are clearly uncomfortable with each other and their environment. But as their journey into the high Alps progresses, things start to flow more and more; the camera starts moving more freely and the sound of machines makes way for the music of the mountains and the silence of nature.” (Jan-Willem van Ewijk)

Jan-Willem van Ewijk (known to his friends as “JW”) worked as an airplane designer and investment banker before quitting his job and pursuing his dream of making films. He wrote, directed, edited and starred alongside his former banking colleagues, friends and family in his debut feature Nu. which received a special mention for best debut feature at the Dutch Film Festival. Eight years later, JW’s second feature Atlantic., about a Moroccan windsurfer, was selected for the Sundance Writer’s Lab and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. After the pandemic, JW shot two features back-to-back; Pacifica., about a father who loses his teenage daughter in a shooting, and Alpha.