It is every director\'s nightmare: to return home without your material. This is exactly what happened to director Rob Smits. At the beginning of Room 2017 we find him in a hotel room in Taipei. He has just returned from a trip to the Yanomami Indians in the deep green of Venezuela. Few men with a camera had spent time with this fierce tribe before him. But money talks, even in the wildest jungle, and on the day of his departure all but one of Smits\' tapes were confiscated.
Drifting through Taipei, capturing cityscapes that express his disorientation in a way that reminds us of Wenders\' documentary Tokyo-Ga, Smits has to ask himself the desperate question: "How to make a film with no footage." Room 2017 is not only a highly inventive MiniMovie about creating a visual story from scrap, but also a contemplation on identity in a world where escaping the rat race has become all but impossible.
We see the truly nerve-wrecking story of a man trying to regain what he was out to lose in the first place. With Room 2017, Smits turns a hopeless failure into a brilliant film.

Director: Rob Smits

About Minimovies:
A Minimovie is an episodic documentary consisting of 8 to 10 episodes. Episodes are 7 to 10 minutes each. Put together, they form a self-contained story. With MiniMovies SubmarineChannel explores a new narrative and visual style of documentary filmmaking.

Watch all episodes