Fourteen years after the death of her Jewish mother, presenter Dieuwertje Blok found her war diary. With her debut Dragging Lightness, Blok pays a warm tribute to the woman who gave her life. A profession in the spotlight - Dieuwertje Blok is no stranger to it. Her grandmother Saartje, who as the daughter of fishmongers grew up in the Joden Houttuinen...
Writer and publicist Henk Pröpper had only just moved to his beloved Paris when the city came to a standstill, and so did his heart almost. Once fitted with a pacemaker, he took to the city in the one hour a day Parisians were allowed. A new world opened up for him. For Henk Pröpper (62), former director...
The uncertainty of the events sector and cultural institutions, after 17 months of lockdowns and one-and-a-half-month openings, is not only disastrous for the mood of directors, artists and spectators. According to the Creative Sector Taskforce, much more is being lost. In fact, a 'Marshall Plan' is needed to get the cultural and creative sector back on its feet,...
As in the animation sector, the book trade is hugely diverse. Within the Netherlands, around 4,500(!) publishing houses operate. From cooking and baking to self-help, from fact to fiction, an awful lot is written and published in the Netherlands. But there is also a publisher, World Editions, which does operate from the Netherlands, but focuses on the English market. They translate existing...
With journalist Bianca Stigter's book Atlas of an occupied city, you walk through today's reality, as it were, with historical virtual reality glasses on. An extra layer appears over the familiar backdrop of Amsterdam's streets: of World War II occupation. What wartime past is hidden in the streets and behind the facades? Atlas...
Young people from Amsterdam East, led by theatre-makers Berith Danse and Isa van Dam, delved into the history of Amsterdam East and ARTIS at the time of World War II. Their research forms the basis for the livestream The lion's den. In Amsterdam Oost, the traces of the Second World War are indelible. Palpable in the trip-stones in the...
Recently, US geopolitician Joseph Nye1 drew attention once again to the fact that transnational culture is one of the great forces of the European project. For those looking at the European Union from the outside, this common culture is evident, but we, citizens of the Union, are less and less aware of it. Moreover, we tend to...
The 35th(!) edition of Reis door de nacht, the classic novel written by Anne de Vries, was published recently. As a ten-year-old boy, I sympathised intensely with the war adventures of Jan de Boer and his family members. The book is also a metaphor for my own struggle against darkness. It is a lovely spring day. In the ditch, a duck swims with her...
At the time Covid-19 flattened normal life, Frank Westerman had fortunately already done his research for his new book. To take care of his parents, he was suddenly living 'at home' again for three months, in his boyhood room on the outskirts of Assen. Writing offered him the chance to escape to heavenly realms: Cosmic Comedy is about the human...
On 1 February, the 50th International Film Festival Rotterdam kicks off online. Here are some advance viewing tips.
Therefore, from 25 to 28 November, the PLEIN THEATER presents The Week of Karina Holla: An in-depth look at the performance War Women and an ode to the work of Dutch mime player, actress, choreographer and director Karina Holla and her significance for theatre.
An in-depth look at the performance War Women and an ode to the work of Dutch mime player, actress, choreographer and director Karina Holla and her significance for theatre.
In 25 years, Martine Letterie has written a small library of children's books: she has already published 120 titles in all age categories. She recently won the Thea Beckman Prize 2020 with Verboden te vliegen [Forbidden to Fly].
Virus draws a clear dividing line between those who found love and those who are still looking.
The title YeonDo refers to a death ritual by which Catholic Koreans bid farewell to their loved ones. The play will have its premiere at the Jheronimus Bosch Art Center in 's Hertogenbosch on 6 November.
Those who read De opgang begin to understand more about Belgium: the country's gigantic split, the friction between the two parts of the country, and the rise and success of the Vlaams Blok. Hertmans has also come to a better understanding of how deep the cleavages and "the sorrows of Belgium" run.
The scope of the stories that stand a chance of winning the Thea Beckman Prize awarded by the Archeon today is wide. The five contenders on what Thea Beckman's work and nomination for the prize mean to them.
94-year-old Jan Hoek from Rotterdam wrote a letter to the youth that everyone will have read by now - there has not been so much attention paid to a message from an elderly person since that string from Terlouw's letterbox. That message is sympathetic and clear: young people, just hang in there a little longer, for our sake, then you can...
Following the publication of social science books such as In the Garden of the Beast, Sex and Lies and the Prix Goncourt-winning novel A Soft Hand, French-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani (39) has become an important voice in French literature in recent years. She was appointed ambassador of French language and culture by President Macron and by the...
South African soldiers thought by fighting along during World War II they would gain the right to vote and independence, because they were promised that. But after the war, not freedom but Apartheid awaited them. With We are the Avengers of it all, writer Conny Braam sheds light on this painful history. Four years ago, Conny Braam (72) published the successful novel Ik ben Hendrik...
It is 1895. Colonel Georges Picquart (Jean Dujardin) has just been promoted, to his own surprise, to head the French army's intelligence service. To get rid of the sewer smell there, literally and figuratively, he frantically yanks on the window in the musty office. It won't open. A touching image in J'Accuse, one of the most talked-about films of this...
I had the chance to attend the 500th anniversary - it took place at the beautiful Teatro La Fenice - of the first Jewish ghetto during my visit to Venice in 2016. One of the speakers was historian Simon Schama. During his lecture, I was given a brief history of Jewish suffering in Italy. According to...
"We are hopeful," is the reply when I speak to a colleague just before the start of the Berlin film festival. For curious as to how the choice of Carlo Chatrian as the new artistic director has fallen among German critics. Chatrian, previously director of the leading arthouse festival in Locarno, lies well, I understand. Whether this 70th Berlinale will see all that new momentum...
The 32nd edition of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam has opened with Sunless Shadows. Confessions of young women jailed for complicity in the murder of their father or other man in the family grow into a haunting statement about oppressed women in a male-dominated society. The only Dutch film in the international competition is Rotjochies by Maasja Ooms.
People used to think it was three times nothing, but today the paintings of water lilies and wisteria are the most famous canvases by French painter Claude Monet. We visited his gardens in Giverny and took a peek through the eyes of the master. Mugs and socks When you think of the painter Claude Monet, the first thoughts probably go to his colourful canvases...
'That I have perpetrators in my family gives me the responsibility to keep remembering. Many of my contemporaries say we should never forget and that it should never happen again, but do nothing else. Being a writer gives me the opportunity to do something. To write about it, make readers feel...
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