Nellie i am home

The situation is typically embarrassing and unlikely-but-possible for Charley, but it is at the same time such a simple idea -- Charley shows off by taking a pretty girl back home, wreaks havoc trying to get her in, then discovers that she's married.

Little Nelli is a clever and cunning child. As her parents are both working, her grandmother has to care for her. But her grandmother is no match to Nelly. Out on the street, Nelli also calls the tune and becomes the kids’ favourite with her brash pranks. But when Nelli enters day nursery, the situation changes completely. Suddenly, Nelli is no longer at the centre of attention and starts to upset the group with her aggressive stubbornness and to revolt against the rules.

Transporting the viewer to a very different time and place, Nellie is inspired by the life of Cornelia van Rijn, Rembrandt's illegitimate daughter, who at the age of sixteen emigrated to Batavia (present-day Jakarta). Little is known about Cornelia's life; no portraits of her are known to exist. But this omission from the history books was for the artist an opportunity to give her imagination free reign. With this unsettling work Tan offers a touching homage to a forgotten woman, whose 'suspended history' becomes activated again.

Comedy short (only fragments remain at LoC)