A film by Kristina Benjocki and Stijn Verhoeff
two-channels, 4K stereo, 40 minutes, 2023

The two-screen film installation 'While the Pile of Rubble Grows Towards the Sky' takes the audience on an underground journey through the corridors of the Cannerberg, a former limestone mine in Southern Limburg, The Netherlands. Two characters, guided by atmospheric sounds and drone music, explore the dark past of this hidden space. Block breakers during the Industrial Revolution, the Nazi occupation during the Second World War, and a NATO headquarters for war operations during the Cold War; the two encounter troublesome yet exemplary histories of human activities. While one of them sticks to the facts, the other mirrors what they meet with current times. Together they arrive at a quiet, unexpected presence, bringing a stark contrast to everything seen before.

Starring - Kristina Benjocki, Robbie Smeets and a brown long-eared bat (Plecotus auritus)
Voices - Ana Smaragda Lemnaru and Yvo Sprey
Director of Photography - Casper Brink
Editors - Daria Kiseleva and Stijn Verhoeff
Sound - Sjoerd Leijten
Electroacoustic music - composed by Sjoerd Leijten, recorder performance by Verena Barié, double bass performance by Simon Beeckaert
Accordion music - composed and performed by Leo Svirsky, recorded inside the Cannerberg by Sjoerd Leijten
Text - Kristina Benjocki and Stijn Verhoeff
Lights - Dietmar Gunne
Catering - Dušica Vesnić
Voices recorded by Marcel de Rooij, De Slapende Hond, Amsterdam
Titles - Paul Gangloff
Map - David Cornelis van Schaïk

Supported by Mondriaan Fonds, Amarte, Stichting Niemeijer Fonds and Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds