(The Netherlands, 1997, video, 8:00)

Five domestic scenes with mostly tragic endings. The plots, sometimes disturbing, sometimes shallow, serve mostly as occasions for a series of razor-sharp observations. Oppenheimer, an Englishman now resident in Amsterdam, was delighted to work together with the Dutch film making duo Tanja and Roderik Henderson. It’s partly due to their camera-work that ‘Trials & Errors’ features a lot of characteristic Dutch film idiom. Common objects and everyday transactions are emphasised almost to the point of alienation, through the use of clever close-ups and surprising camera angles.