You'd be interested to know what Spalding Gray and Christoph Schlingensief would have had to say to each other.

On the Holland Festival two ghosts wander around. The loudest is that of Christoph Schlingensief, Germany's most independent filmmaker, theatre-maker, activist and enfant terrible, always good for controversy. After being diagnosed with lung cancer in 2008, he processed his anger and fear in Eine Kirche der Angst vor dem Fremden in mir, presented at the Holland Festival in 2009. This year, the HF brings the Dutch premiere of his last two theatre productions.

The other ghost is that of American actor, playwright and performer Spalding Gray. His name is attached to The Wooster Group, the New York company he co-founded and which is once again performing at the Holland Festival.

Both artists also live on in the films they made. As a tribute, the HF is showing a wide selection, including Schlingensief's illustrious and highly bizarre Deutschlandtrilogie. How about 100 Jahre Adolf Hitler, the Führer's last hours in his bunker, filmed as an expressionist horror parody. Note the viciously placed quote from Wim Wenders. Things get even wilder in Das Deutsche Kettensägenmassaker, in which Wessies hunt for Ossies after the fall of the wall.

It is Schlingensief's commentary on society, but not everyone saw the joke of this exorcism. In the enlightening and highly entertaining documentary Schlingensief und seine Filme, the artist tells us that his father, who was a pharmacist, taught him that when ill, a small dose of poison can act as a cure.

Compared to Schlingensief, Spalding Gray takes a considerably calmer approach when conjuring demons, which can be a relief after an overdose of German chaos. As an actor and theatre-maker, Gray gained fame as a master of the monologue, performed in a minimalist setting.

Swimming to Cambodia is the film recording of Gray's successful theatre monologue in which he reminisces about the small role he played in The Killing Fields and his stay in Thailand. In a cosy theatre room in New York Gray sits down behind a small table with only a glass of water, a microphone and a notebook. He rolls up the sleeves of his lumberjack shirt and takes off. He has barely started when he already sees similarities between a luxury Thai hotel and prisons in the US. For almost an hour and a half, he is unstoppable, captivating his audience with his ironic lecture and unexpected leaps of thought. Yes, filmmaking and theatre can be that simple.

Even more than Schlingensief, Gray uses his own experiences as inspiration and makes himself the focus of his art. And although their work is otherwise hardly comparable, Gray's too ultimately revolves around conjuring fear. Sublime is his recipe for the perfect moment. If you go swimming and you are afraid of sharks, leave your money on the beach where it can be stolen. Your fear will be left with the money.

Christoph Schlingensief died on 21 August 2010. Spalding Gray, who suffered from depression, presumably committed suicide. On 7 March 2004, his body was found in the East River, New York.

You would be interested to know what Gray and Schlingensief would have had to say to each other.

Schlingensief's films will be screened at the Ketelhuis from Thursday 2 to Wednesday 8 June. His theatrical work Mea Culpa is the opening performance of the Holland Festival on 2 June. From 4 to 6 June, Via Intoleranza can be seen at the Zuiveringshal on the Westergasfabriek grounds.

Spalding Gray can be seen at the Boiler House from 10 to 13 June.

Inform and rserve: www.hollandfestival.nl