LEAP

A run-up, a pole and a stretch of water to cross. In LEAP, director Cristobal De Alba follows Hannes Scherjon’s return to fierljeppen, the Dutch sport in which competitors try to leap as far as possible across a canal. Hannes wants to attempt the Frisian championship again after an interruption marked by injuries, while his partner Petra is expecting their first child.

The sporting movement belongs to the landscape in which the film is set. In fierljeppen, athletes take a run-up, reach the pole and climb it as it tilts over the water, before pushing off and landing on sand. The distance covered is what counts. Using a pole to cross ditches developed into a competitive sport, with clubs and competitions that form part of life in Frisian communities.

For Hannes, tradition also passes through his work: he is a sixth-generation clog-maker and the son of Eelke, himself a fierljeppen champion. The family workshop and the training ground are two settings in the narrative. Preparing for the competition means finding time among everyday commitments, dealing with physical problems and discussing the risk of another accident with his family.

The documentary places training, conversations and domestic life alongside home movies and old press articles viewed together by its participants. Hannes’s mother Marie and Petra describe different aspects of his relationship with the sport; Freark Wijma recounts its history and the evolution of the poles. Family memories enter the present-day preparations alongside the concerns of those accompanying his return.

LEAP forms part of the documentary work of Filmcollectief Groningen and FryslânDOK, Omrop Fryslân’s programme devoted to stories from the region. The project received support from the Frysk Filmfûns through its Koart scheme; De Alba, Inez Dijkstra and Inge Feenstra contributed to the writing. Across the film’s thirty minutes, the approach to the championship connects the sporting objective with a period of change in its protagonist’s life.