Hemel (the Dutch word for heaven) has an unconventional life-style. She is young, beautiful and in her father’s eyes the most precious thing on earth. She is also wild, sadistic, masochistic. She frequently goes clubbing, risks her life sleeping with dubious strangers and has an unhealthy admiration for her womanizing dad, Gijs. When Gijs finally finds his partner for life, Hemel goes through hell, and a time of loss and self-discovery lies ahead for the rebel. This absorbing, fresh portrait of a young woman living a life without boundaries and a never ending hunger for sex and attention is not simply provoking – it is done with tenderness, humour and a fine cinematographic eye. Whether director Sacha Polak has made the female answer to SHAME is for you to decide. HEMEL received the critic’s FIPRESCI award at Berlinale 2012.

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