The Man Who Looked Beyond the Horizon (2018)

Directed by: Martijn Blekendaal | 26 minutes | documentary

In 1975 the Dutchman Bas Jan Ader departed from America to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a tiny sailing boat. Ten months later, the boat is found half-flooded off the coast of Ireland. However, there is no trace of Ader. This disappearance is the starting point for the short documentary ‘The Man Who Looked Beyond the Horizon’. Documentary maker Martijn Blekendaal focuses on young people between the ages of 9 and 15, but the film is actually also interesting for any older age group.

The trail that Blekendaal is following turns out to be multifold. In this way he not only looks at what exactly may have happened, but also at who exactly Bas Jan Ader is. And that turns out to be at least as fascinating as the disappearance itself. Ader was a performance artist who therefore only had a short time to create a real body of work. (Ader was 33 when he disappeared). The work that is known by him consists largely of films in which Ader can be seen falling. He falls into bushes, into the canal and from a tree into the ditch. Is this perhaps a harbinger of a great work of art in which Ader falls from the world?

Blekendaal knows how to make interesting observations and speculations and that makes ‘The Man Who Looked Beyond the Horizon’ a fascinating whole. The storytelling style is also well chosen. Blekendaal edits the film into an interesting essay about art, interpretation and introspection using his own shot and archive material. It is a pity that the film is only so short, because instinctively there is much more to tell about the man who looked beyond the horizon.