Leo Bankersen has been writing about film since Chinatown and Night of the Living Dead. Reviewed as a freelance film journalist for the GPD for a long time. Is now, among other things, one of the regular contributors to De Filmkrant. Likes to break a lance for children's films, documentaries and films from non-Western countries. Other specialities: digital issues and film education.
Watching with new eyes. That is what the Amsterdam documentary festival IDFA does with Shifting Perspectives: the Arab World. Imaging without stereotypes, as in the magisterial family portrait Homeland: Iraq Year Zero.
Brandend Kalf wants more fire in Dutch cinema. Parallel to the opening of the Dutch Film Festival, this initiative group organised a meeting where objections to the far too safe Dutch film were listed. Where is the subversive cinema?
After the sudden death of her loved one, trans woman Marina must fight for her right to grieve and mourn. Sebastian Lelio shows her as an amazing woman who can do without an LHTB label. He told more about it in Berlin.
Giving the viewer a voice in the twists and turns a film story takes. It's a dream that has proved difficult to realise. But now there is the interactive cinema film Late Shift. A film or a game?
Funny how something as ordinary as sex always causes some noise when it comes on screen in the cinema. How about that, really? The tricky aspects of explicit sex in cinema films missing from Cinema Erotica.
With Cinema Erotica, EYE is celebrating lust. In doing so, Jennifer Lyon Bell, maker of erotic films, presents a programme in which she connects porn and art. What fascinates her so much in this sensual genre?
Having already won several awards for his short work, Daan Bakker now presents his wonderfully original first feature-length film Quality Time.
Compared to many artistic experiments in virtual reality, the comedy High Five is remarkably carefree. Cheerful spectacle for a wide audience at Amsterdam's VR Cinema.
This documentary about a Palestinian zoo in the occupied West Bank is a welcome addition to the stereotypical images from the media. Yet behind this open-minded approach, there is also an unmissable metaphor. Who is most trapped, the animals or the Palestinians behind Qalqilya's city wall?
Interview with Martijn Maria Smits about his new film Waldstille, which he shot in his native village in Brabant. A drama full of subcutaneous menace from a Dutch filmmaker with a signature of his own.
Some doubt whether virtual reality is a suitable medium for feature film. The Dutch makers of Ashes to Ashes, The Night Watch and High Five show that it can be done.
In the documentary Life. Animated, Roger Ross Williams tells the equally amazing and infectious story of how Disney films were the key to the world for autistic Owen. "It's about the power of stories," he says.
The nearly five-hour documentary 'Combat au bout de la nuit' reveals how ordinary Greek people experience the crisis. A true immersion experience.
Animals play striking roles in both the striking Hungarian debut On Body and Soul and the subversive Polish thriller Pokot (Spoor). Two strong films in the Berlin competition.
The European Film Academy keeps the focus on the Russian condemnation of Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov alive. Another protest at the Berlinale.
T2 Trainspotting, the reunion with the junkie heroes of 20 years ago was a dare. But the energy is still there. Berlin had the international premiere.
The Berlinale claims to be the most political film festival, but are we much wiser from the label 'political cinema'? Django, about the legendary Django Reinhardt, opened the 67th edition.
A conversation with Erik Lieshout on 'To Stay Alive', his film adaptation (with Iggy Pop!) of Michel Houellebecq's essay 'Rester vivant'. Don't throw in the towel, insists these life-giving artists. Reinvent yourself.
Barry Jenkins, the fast-up director of the Oscar-nominated discovery Moonlight gave a master class in Rotterdam. On finding your voice and an intuitive way of filmmaking.
Parallax Views is the overarching theme of the 46th Rotterdam Film Festival. Be persuaded to look with new eyes. Director Bero Beyer, who took office in 2015, on his second festival.
The Dutch film industry announced its annual figures. 2016 was a top year, measured by the once again increased number of cinema visitors. The best-attended film was Bridget Jones's Baby. But the market share of Dutch films dipped to an all-time low.
In the election of best film 2016 by the Dutch film press, La La Land and Toni Erdmann finished in shared first place. Tonio is the Dutch favourite.
For his documentary on the refugee issue, Guido Hendrikx chose an unusual form. In a schoolroom in Sicily, a teacher played by an actor confronts the migrants with the hard facts about Europe.
The 2016 Autumn Consultation. This annual evening of debate around burning issues in the film industry revealed above all that the industry is far from being on the same page.
With Austerlitz, Sergei Loznitsa made a documentary about tourists in former concnetration camps that was as rigorous as it was unsettling. This year, he is guest of honour at IDFA and gave a master class there.
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