As part of "Hi, Figures!", Statistics Netherlands today released updated figures on the performing arts in the Netherlands. These show a cautious recovery, although the consequences of the 2011 interventions by the VVD and PVV are still painfully visible. The figures show that theatre in particular is struggling. There, the...
The riveting, Golden Lion-winning Roma immerses you in the Mexico of filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón's youth. Are we going to see it on Netflix, or in the cinema? Viewers have a choice that Netflix did not offer in our country before. In addition, the exclusive cinema window is also in flux.
IDFA 2018 is a great opportunity to take a look at what you can do with documentary in film education. Documentaries can resonate very well with children, is the experience of Meike Statema, head of education at IDFA.
Slowly but surely, the very latest in virtual reality (VR) is finished and we can start thinking about what you want to show, rather than how. Whereas at the first VR festival I still got whooping headaches from bad glasses, now I can be mesmerised by the beauty of the Amazon or beautiful animations. Movie theatres like Eye...
Sounding Alchemy, is the name of the chunky volume recently published by music publicist Maarten Brandt (1953). It has 715 pages, including illustrations and an extensive index. In 98 articles, Brandt unfolds his views on music and music programming. He dedicated the beautifully designed book to his admired Marius Flothuis, programmer of the Concertgebouw Orchestra for many years. His heirs received a first copy during...
From the corner next to the revolving doors to the outside, he has a great view of the north hall of De Heuvel. The luxury indoor shopping centre in Eindhoven's city centre is bathed in golden glow, while subterranean rumbling sounds from speakers. Above the heads of the crowd, bright light of all colours shines, reflected off bent mirrored plates. Edward Dams has just...
Until now, film education has mostly been a grab bag of initiatives. But now that the minister mentions it in her policy plan and extra money has been allocated, new steps can be taken. Towards a permanent place in the classroom? We ask Florine Wiebenga, head of education Eye, and Jeroen Stultiens, Film Teacher of the Year.
Small-scale film festival Film by the Sea specialises in book adaptations. It celebrates its 20th edition with an award for Sophia Loren and a Bergman retrospective. Artistic director feels it is now time for rejuvenation and is handing over the baton.
Sometimes there is a gap in the strolling crowd in Groningen's Noorderplantsoen. Often this is due to a local resident with muscle-dog, who continues to make his daily round despite the crowds. It is one of those funny things that give Noorderzon its very own character, as the most Groningen-like of all summer festivals in our country. There is...
'Not a bad word about Lego or Knexx. But identity is the most exciting building kit.' So opens the preface to Theatre Festival Boulevard in Den Bosch. What you see is what you guess is the motto this time. It refers to the gap between how other people see you and how you yourself feel. Identity in its broadest form: from gender...
With Toost, the Netherlands has gained a food truck festival that does not visit the capital cities but rather the smaller towns. This sometimes causes local friction, but almost always gratitude. And for a consumer who feels not stripped down but taken care of for a change. Halfway through our conversation, Toost Foodtruck Festival organiser Kris de Pee (30) is tapped on the shoulder by the...
If the weather holds up a bit, the upcoming edition of Theatre Festival Boulevard will be the most tropical in history. The smart ones among us, who opted for a staycation in West Balkonia this year, can indulge their cultural heart in Den Bosch. Not for nothing regularly called 'The Avignon of the Netherlands'. Theatre festival Boulevard is unpacking 2018 with a truly overwhelming...
Human rights organisations from around the world and thousands of filmmakers and artists express support for Oleg Sentsov, sentenced to 20 years by Russia. This Ukrainian filmmaker has been on hunger strike since 14 May. His life is in serious danger, according to the European Film Academy.
"In the Netherlands, we are actually on holiday," say Daphne (40) and Ilja (26), laughing. They are travel experts, with Japan as their core destination. "I visit a few festivals every summer, but whether I'm really a festival-goer? Not so much, I think." Seven years ago, Daphne was last to Lakedance, now she is "getting up to age" and got to go for...
Occasionally it chafes at Playful Arts, an intimate festival that brings play and art together. It's all about interaction, doing it yourself, experiencing it. Some visitors have to cross a threshold. But then something does happen. Those dancers must be in really good shape," I hear someone behind me mutter reverently. On the other side of the street, a man points to...
Grandpa tells. In 1989, a committee of experts chose a different theatre course in my city, Utrecht. The just-risen festival Theater aan de Werf would get more money, the marching theatre would disappear from 't Hoogt and the rest would have to take care of the newcomer with fewer days of programming. Then we took to the streets against the so-called 'festivalisation',...
Here it is. The one and only interactive Culture Press Holland Festival Special. A special that has already been deployed over the past few months, and will be added to in the coming month. During the festival, we have regular reviews and reports, and podcasts. A new edition of this Special will appear every week. On Mondays. And then you can also subscribe via...
Alí Calderón has written quite a body of work, but I didn't hear much of it during my stay at Poetry International. However, the poem 'Democracia Mexicana' did come along three times. A formidable poem, as it ends with a rotting baby corpse, so not for the soft-hearted among us. Democracia Mexicana is Calderon's hit poem. Like pop singers can make a hit...
Thursday 17 May opens SPRING Performing Arts Festival in Utrecht with, among others, Sic Transit Gloria Mundi by Dries Verhoeven and to come (extended) by Mette Ingvartsen. Over ten days, over twenty-five international dance and theatre productions, installations and performance works will be on show in public spaces and urban environments. A week earlier, festival director Rainer Hofmann looks relaxed. 'Until now...
The Drenthe village of Erica was rocked on the last weekend of April by the cosy noise festival Pitfest. And that attracted a motley mix of people. I walked around there for a day. A golf cart zooms across the roundabout of the 4-star resort in the outskirts of the Drenthe town of Erica. To the right of the tarmac are tightly mowed golf courses, to the left is a plot of land...
'Iris Hannema writes like a guy,' I wrote a few years ago in a review of her The Bittersweet Paradise (2016). You wouldn't get away with that now. Actually, I meant to say: Iris Hannema writes solid, image-rich, independent ánd critical texts that you rarely come across in female as well as male travel journalists. Why that is, I will tell you later. Get lost' Typical...
On Tuesday 17 April, Gerard Alderliefste performed at TivoliVredenburg. This time, the interpreter of French chansons had left his guitar and piano at home. This evening he was there in his capacity as an addiction doctor. On behalf of the Landelijk Medisch Spreekuur Partydrugs, he talked about the long-term consequences of party drugs such as XTC, MDMA, GHB and Cannabis. He was there at the invitation of Unity.nl, a voluntary organisation...
In the week when defenders of the Dutch language are flying into each other's hair over whether or not a schoolgirl should read Multatuli in the original language, the Council for Culture comes out with its advice for the literary sector. Already in the first chapter, it reads: 'those who start reading at a young age become more language literate, start liking reading more....
Where can you indulge as a film lover in the Netherlands? With 54 festival editions in 2017, North Holland appears to be the province where you can enjoy film festivals most often. Amsterdam takes the crown with a whopping 47 film festival editions, according to a study by the Hogeschool van Amsterdam (HvA). Lecturer Harry van Vliet of the Crossmedia lectureship of the HvA faculty,...
Apart from a lot of confusion, the advisory referendum law has also created a new category of festivals. The 'Ukraine referendum' spawned at least one festival (at Amsterdam's De Balie debating centre) and the dragnet referendum on 21 March 2018 prompted the 'Niks te Verbergen' dragnet festival in Nijmegen. Prominent member of the organising team is Viola van Alphen. With her foundation Violavirus...
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