After 'Prey', 'The Conductor' also goes to China
After the Dutch thriller Prooi, The Conductor has also been acquired for release in Chinese cinema.
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7 reasons to (re)read Elsschot's novels
With his new book The Discovery of Elsschot, Elsschot biographer Vic van de Reijt wants to get the whole of the Netherlands reading Elsschot's books. Seven reasons why these classics are timeless fun. 1. You can finish every book by Elsschot in one day 'In 1970 I bought his Collected Works for nine guilders, I remember it well. At the time...
Tannhäuser at DNO: not director's theatre but subtle take on hypocrisy surrounding courtly and earthly love
A petition was recently started to restore Olivier Keegel's press accreditation by The National Opera. He was denied press passes because he frequently expressed negative views on Pierre Audi's programme choices on the blog Operagazet and in Het Parool. Moreover, he denounced his penchant for "director's theatre", in which, according to him, the content falls prey to a far-fetched...
'We can compete with Disney.' Why the long Dutch animated film is going to break through with Heinz and Bunuel
'Heinz' and 'Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles', both out on 18 April, signal an important development in the field of feature-length Dutch animation. A breakthrough is in the air. On stubbornness and co-productions, Anne Frank and Miss Moxy. And what else is on the horizon.
Agnès Varda (1928-2019) - a warm heart and an irrepressible lust for filmmaking
Agnès Varda, once one of the few female filmmakers of the Nouvelle Vague, always upheld that free creative spirit. On 29 March, she died in Paris. Her rich oeuvre is an ode to life.
When people have seen war and violence in the face, stories are needed most: Shell Shock in Eye (why I want to see Taxi Driver again).
Calm and peace are but a thin layer covering the chaos of war and other violence in the world. In an extensive and richly varied themed programme, Eye shows how filmmakers have captured that in stories.
'I had thought beforehand that this night would end with sex, and felt I deserved it.' Tom Stranger and Thordis Elva co-wrote a book about rape
His heart skipped a beat in 2005 when he saw an email arrive from his former Icelandic girlfriend. The mail revealed a truth that Tom Stranger had tried to push away for years: he had raped his girlfriend Thordis Elva. Their equally shocking and courageous story Elva and Stranger shared in a TEDx lecture and a joint book, 7200 seconds -...
Een lugubere, ultieme daad van liefde. Joris van Casteren schrijft een prachtig boek over een man en zijn dode moeder
Waarom bewaart iemand het dode lichaam van zijn moeder in huis? In Moeders lichaam schetst Joris van Casteren een fascinerend en liefdevol portret van een man, zijn moeder en een Limburgs dorpje. ‘Heb je dat verhaal gehoord over die man met zijn dode moeder?’ vroeg zijn oud-docente journalistiek een paar jaar geleden. Nee, dat had Joris van Casteren niet. Doordat hij…
'For a long time, history has mainly been presented from a male perspective.'
Her debut novel became an instant bestseller in Spain. The Last Gift of Paulina Hoffmann by Carmen Romero Dorr is a novel based partly on her own family history about Paulina, who emigrates from Germany to Spain as a young girl because of World War II. 'About her past, her experiences during the war, my grandmother never wanted to talk.' A beautiful family epic, that is The Last...
'The wheel of frustration needs to get moving'. Concern over Dutch feature film at Filmmaker Symposium.
A survey shows that Dutch filmmakers are very concerned about the production conditions and quality of Dutch feature films. The Filmmakers Initiative wants to spark discussion and propose solutions. A symposium as a kick-off.
'Fantasy is the cork on which I float in this life.' How 'scandal photographer' Erwin Olaf became a photographer of royalty
The images in his mind are always very strong, even if he does not know beforehand what they mean. Photographer Erwin Olaf works intuitively and only sees afterwards what his photo series are about. Like Palm Springs, his new work on show since this weekend at the double exhibition at the Gemeentemuseum and Fotomuseum in The Hague. 'Fantasy is for...
'Only when I've written it down do I know what I thought of something.' Nicolien Mizee on smurfs, gnomes and murder
'Would you like to see my smurfs?' From anyone else's mouth such a question would sound strange, but with Nicolien Mizee you are not surprised. After all, the Haarlem-based writer's books are often a tad strange and absurd, and above all witty. The interview tape is already off, the tea is finished, and Mizee pulls out a kind of maquette...
'A murder of a whore that involved all the high-ups.' Tomas Ross on the never-explained murder of Blonde Dolly from The Hague
How did the Hague prostitute Blonde Dolly make her millions? And why was her killer never caught, when it was abundantly clear who must have strangled her? That smells like a conspiracy, and conspiracies are like grist to writer Tomas Ross' mill. In Blonde Dolly, he tackles one of the oldest and most mysterious cold cases in the Netherlands. Until it...
Swearing and ranting tapping a tender poem. Biographer Elsbeth Etty shows Willem Wilmink in all his complexity
As good and fluent as writing poems and songs was for him, everyday life fell on him with difficulty. Writer Willem Wilmink grew into a folk hero of Twente, but remained a child at heart, according to the biography by literary critic Elsbeth Etty. 'Someone who, according to his best friend Herman Finkers, couldn't even hold a pair of scissors.'
IFFR 2019: What I learned about internet memes, and how they infect films.
Rabbit Hole is the name of the programme with which the International Film Festival Rotterdam dives into the world of internet memes. With a Meme Café, vlogging Chinese and the dazzling feminist pamphlet Make Me Up.
Long-winded Juditha Triumphans at DNO
Oratorios are notoriously undramatic because they only tell a story for one second and do not zoom in on human emotions. Juditha Triumphans is no exception and the narrative itself has little to it. To rid her town of its assailants, Judith gets their general drunk and then cuts off his head. This could make for a compelling story, were it...
'Look, there's someone letting his pineapple out!' How journalist Lex Boon fell in love with the queen of fruits
Everyone has seen them before, those pineapple plants from Ikea. Many people keep them in the room for a while, until they die and end up in the dustbin. But for journalist Lex Boon (35), the moment he received such a plant as a gift from his (ex-)girlfriend was a turning point in his life. He became hooked on the crowned fruit and flew...
Sacha Polak on the battered but strong woman in Dirty God, opening film 48th IFFR. Emotion is the motto this year
'Feel IFFR' is the motto of this year's International Film Festival Rotterdam. The emotion behind the image and with the viewer as a guide for our interpretation. The opening film Dirty God is a nice test case. Director Sacha Polak explains why she wanted to make a film about a scarred woman.
Why you shouldn't miss 'Im wunderschönen Monat Mai' at Paradiso
On Wednesday 16 January, Reinbert de Leeuw will present his cycle Im wunderschönen Monat Mai at Paradiso. A unique opportunity to see him at work once more in his globally believed masterpiece. In 2003, he surprised friend and foe alike with this composition inspired by songs by Schumann and Schubert. Was that not swearing in church? Arnold Schoenberg had the Romanticism...
Cinema sector recovers (narrowly), but Dutch film remains problem child (lists!)
The cinema industry presents its 2018 annual figures. Visits stable at 35.7 million, but Dutch film's market share dropped again, now to 11%. Half of the peak year of 2011.
Buying a carton of milk in Venice? Forget it. Writer Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer on his new novel and the future of Europe
'Caffè e acqua frizzante, per favore.' Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer orders a coffee and water from the waitress of bar 28 Erbe. It's late morning and the terrace in Piazza dell' Erbe, a stone's throw from the palazzo where the writer lives, is slowly starting to get a bit busier. Pfeijffer has now been living in the...
Tot het zot eruit is. Prachtige reconstructie van zijn familiegeschienis door Bart Meuleman
De eerste keer dat de vader van de Belgische schrijver Bart Meuleman over zijn afkomst begint, tijdens een autorit, leidt dat nauwelijks tot een diepgaand gesprek. Maar wel tot een kanteling. ‘Mijn vader werd iemand anders,’ schrijft Meuleman. ‘Aan alles wat hij als vader ooit deed, of naliet, of zei, of verzweeg, gingen kwesties vooraf. Ze hadden hem gekneed tot…
Three CDs you wouldn't have wanted to miss in 2018
The end of the year is approaching. So the lists fly around our ears again with 'most beautiful', 'best', 'most unforgettable', 'most moving'... fill in the blanks. I think compiling top-soaps is actually a typically male thing, but come on, I'm not that bad. Here are three CDs you wouldn't have wanted to miss this year - in no particular order. Louise Farrenc: Variations for Piano Biliana Tzinlikova,...
Man stronger than Fate? Forget it! - Oedipe by George Enescu at #DNO
Anyone wishing to pass through the gates of Thebes must solve the riddle of the Sphinx. Those who fail die an irrevocable death, their bones fading into the charnel field around her. Oedipus challenges her, determined to save the city. 'Name someone or something more powerful than Fate!', oracles the Sphinx from her single-engine plane. 'Man!', jubilates Oedipus. To which.
Performing artists miss out on million in European grant due to 'administrative inability'
'Indecent and rude,' is how Miep van Diggelen, former chairman of the board of the Performing Arts Social Fund (SFPK), calls the actions of the board of that same fund. That board, or at least about five members of the seven-member board, decided - outside the official meeting - to withdraw a subsidy application they had initiated earlier, without having read it. The promising...
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