‘Jessey's struggle symbolises the father-son theme that is so apparent for many of us.’ – Director Bob van de Gronde on the film ‘Rooted in Shadow’ for New Balance

‘Jessey's struggle symbolises the father-son theme that is so apparent for many of us.’ – Director Bob van de Gronde on the film ‘Rooted in Shadow’ for New Balance

‘Jessey's struggle symbolises the father-son theme that is so apparent for many of us.’ – Director Bob van de Gronde on the film ‘Rooted in Shadow’ for New Balance

‘Rooted in Shadow’ by Eyeforce for New Balance tells the true story of boxing legend Ramon Voorn and his son Jessey Voorn, a professional basketball player. Revolving around Jessey’s struggle to follow in his father’s footsteps, the film takes us on his journey as Jessey decides to follow his own dream to become a unique basketball player thanks to his boxing skills. This coming of age story is a soulful piece that does justice to the original story. At the Dutch Creativity Awards 2020, 'Rooted in Shadow' was awarded a Nomination in the Craft – Film Direction category. We revisit the project with Director at Eyeforce, Bob van de Gronde.

Image above by Cas Kerssens

‘Jessey's struggle symbolises the father-son theme that is so apparent for many of us.’ – Director Bob van de Gronde on the film ‘Rooted in Shadow’ for New Balance

How open was the original brief? Were you given a lot of freedom to visualise the basketball launch as you saw fit or was it a close collaboration with New Balance?

This project started with the story. Even before New Balance was ‘onboard’ we started crafting the story with the main characters. So when New Balance came onboard, it was obvious that we would have the freedom any filmmaker dreams of.


The film tells the true story of boxing legend Ramon Voorn and his son Jessey Voorn – could you explain why you decided to tell their story?

It’s the a-typical father-son story. The stories of athletes stepping into the footsteps of their father (like Max Verstappen and Daley Blind) are endless, but you don’t come across a story like this every day. Jessey learned boxing from his father who was a Dutch National boxing champion, but instead of becoming a boxer, he used his training to become a professional basketball player.

Before this story came along, I fantasised about telling the story of one the best boxers of our time; Vasyl Lomatsjenko. He quit boxing to become a dancer for 4 years, and by doing so he developed incredible footwork. When we approached him, he was already working on a documentary unfortunately. When I learned that Jessey’s footwork and speed on the basketball court were developed through boxing it fuelled my interest in their story.


Images below by Cas Kerssens

‘Jessey's struggle symbolises the father-son theme that is so apparent for many of us.’ – Director Bob van de Gronde on the film ‘Rooted in Shadow’ for New Balance‘Jessey's struggle symbolises the father-son theme that is so apparent for many of us.’ – Director Bob van de Gronde on the film ‘Rooted in Shadow’ for New Balance‘Jessey's struggle symbolises the father-son theme that is so apparent for many of us.’ – Director Bob van de Gronde on the film ‘Rooted in Shadow’ for New Balance

As stated in your entry to the Awards, ‘In terms of storytelling, the videoclip based structure brings a new, hybrid form of documentary storytelling to the apparel industry’ – why did you decide to approach the film in such a way?

I was searching for a way to bring an artistic touch to my documentary filmmaking portfolio. In sports shorts there are a lot of vignette films being made at the moment, as well as more linear documentary stories. The video clip format lends itself for less ‘direct’ storytelling, especially since the lyrics of our sound-track didn’t explicitly tell the story either.


The lyrics of the soundtrack very much help to drive the narrative of the film – could you talk us through how the use of this song came about?

I was hugely inspired by the videoclip River by Leon Bridges. What I love about the film is that the soundtrack and the imagery both tell their own story, but you feel they are connected. I wanted to create a more secondary storyline through the lyrics of the soundtrack.

Even though the film is primarily about how Jessey translates his boxing techniques into becoming a unique basketball player, the focus on his mental struggle plays a big role. Was this always an aspect you wanted to shine light on?

Jessey's struggle symbolises the father-son theme that is so apparent for many of us. How much do we pressure our kids to become like us? To maybe fulfil the dreams that we didn't accomplish? I am a father myself, and find myself basically raising my kid to be like a mini-me :) I’ve been teaching him boxing since before he could walk, and he recently joined a field-hockey club because I was into that sport when I was young. So working with the drama and character development within this theme was a personal journey for me as well.

‘Jessey's struggle symbolises the father-son theme that is so apparent for many of us.’ – Director Bob van de Gronde on the film ‘Rooted in Shadow’ for New Balance‘Jessey's struggle symbolises the father-son theme that is so apparent for many of us.’ – Director Bob van de Gronde on the film ‘Rooted in Shadow’ for New Balance‘Jessey's struggle symbolises the father-son theme that is so apparent for many of us.’ – Director Bob van de Gronde on the film ‘Rooted in Shadow’ for New Balance

What was your favourite part of this project/what made it stand out?

I love the cinematography of the film. I think it really stands out thanks to DP Jurgen Lisse, who really had the opportunity to pour his heart out in the film. I also enjoyed scouting the cast. By going to boxing classes in different gyms, I scouted talent to play the younger versions of Jessey and Ramon’s characters.

Because the main cast weren't necessarily actors, it created a bit more authenticity for me personally, knowing that these characters had a similar story in their life.

What are your biggest takeaways/learnings from this project?

Don’t compromise on location. We really scoured the Netherlands to find the right locations, because we didn’t want this film to look Dutch. I disapproved of hundreds of locations, which made me feel like a proper asshole at times towards our producers. It sometimes seems unreasonable to keep saying no, but in the end everyone was glad that we pushed through on that aspect.


Images below by Cas Kerssens

‘Jessey's struggle symbolises the father-son theme that is so apparent for many of us.’ – Director Bob van de Gronde on the film ‘Rooted in Shadow’ for New Balance‘Jessey's struggle symbolises the father-son theme that is so apparent for many of us.’ – Director Bob van de Gronde on the film ‘Rooted in Shadow’ for New Balance‘Jessey's struggle symbolises the father-son theme that is so apparent for many of us.’ – Director Bob van de Gronde on the film ‘Rooted in Shadow’ for New Balance

What’s the first thing you do when starting a new project?

Listen to music.


How do you, as a team, get creatively inspired?

We share inspiration with each other on a weekly basis in set time slots where each person from within the company gets the chance to curate 3 videos and share their opinion with the team. A beer also helps.


Best piece of advice?

Be confident. Especially when you are setting up a project without a briefing from an agency, you have to be completely confident the project is going to happen, otherwise it won’t.

Read more about Rooted in Shadow in our Digital Awards Gallery and read the full Jury Feedback Report here.

Entries to the Dutch Creativity Awards 2021 will start at the end of April. For more information about the Awards, see here.