When the 30th edition of the Netherlands Film Festival kicks off on 22 September, the first Golden Calf will be awarded to Rolf Orthel. This was announced by festival director Willemien van Aalst at a press conference today.
Producer and director Orthel receives this award for his special merit for Dutch film culture. In 1975, he made a name for himself with the impressive documentary A semblance of doubt, about the prisoners and guards of Auschwitz and Westerbork. As a producer, he often committed to difficult projects by young makers. The documentary he produced Bastøy, about a Norwegian prison island, will premiere this festival.
The special film programme Spiegel van Holland celebrating this 30th edition touches on an issue that foreign critics have sometimes wondered about. Why are Dutch films so little topical? In answer to this, sixteen feature films from the past thirty years that do reflect the spirit of their time and document the changing zeitgeist. From the feminist thriller The silence around Christine M. From Marleen Gorris to Eddie Terstall's political comedy Vox Populi.
On 22 September, the Film Prize of the City of Utrecht for the best debut film will also be awarded. Nominated for this are Daan Bakker with Bukowski, Moon Blaisse with Perhaps later and Allard Westenbrink with Smoother.
The traditional Variety Cinema Militans lecture, on 'the position and viability of cinema in the present day', will be given by Christine Vachon, producer of independent and idiosyncratic American films like Happiness and Far From Heaven.
The festival will open with Tirza by Rudolf van den Berg, now also the Dutch entry for the Oscars. Final film is Son of Babylon by Iraqi-Dutch director Mohamed Al-Daradji. The shortest festival film, starring Carice van Houten and made by Anton Corbijn (The American), lasts 1 second and is printed on a special stamp. Play the clip by tilting the stamp.
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