Cinema of the Netherlands refers to the film industry based in the Netherlands. Because the Dutch film industry is relatively small, and there is little or no international market for Dutch films, almost all films rely on state funding. This funding can be achieved through several sources, for instance through the Netherlands Film Fund or the public broadcast networks. In recent years the Dutch Government has established several tax shelters for private investments in Dutch films.[6]
In 2000 the total revenue coming from box office results in the Netherlands was €128.5million; Dutch films had a share of 5.5%, which is €7.1million. In 2006 the total revenue was €155.9million; Dutch films had a share of 11.5%, which is €17.4million.[7]
The Netherlands Film Festival and the Netherlands Film Fund are the initiators of four awards recognising box office achievements in the Netherlands. The awards are intended to generate positive publicity for a film when the media attention for the film's release has stopped.[8] The Golden Film is awarded to films once they have sold 100,000 cinema tickets, the Platinum Film at 400,000 tickets, and the Diamond Film at 1,000,000 tickets. The Crystal Film is for documentary films from the Netherlands and is awarded once the film has sold 10,000 cinema tickets.
The most visited film in Dutch cinema history is Titanic, which attracted 3,405,708 visitors. Proportionately the most visited Dutch film is Turkish Delight which had 3,328,804 visitors in 1973, approximately a quarter of the entire population at the time. Titanic, by comparison, drew roughly one fifth of the population of the Netherlands in the late nineties.
Although the Dutch film industry is relatively small, there have been several active periods in which Dutch filmmaking thrived. The first boom came during the First World War when the Netherlands was one of the neutral states. Studios like Hollandia produced an impressive cycle of feature films. A second wave followed in the 1930s, as talking pictures led to a call for Dutch-spoken films, which resulted in a boom in production: between 1934 and 1940, 37 feature films were released. The film Dead Water (1934), directed by Gerard Rutten, won the Coppa Istituto Luce at the Venice Film Festival (1934), for best cinematography, which was the work of Andor von Barsy.
To accommodate the rapid growth, the Dutch film industry looked to foreign personnel experienced with sound film technology. Mostly these were Germans, or people who had worked in Germany, who fled the country after Hitler took power. Several renowned German directors who would go on to work in Hollywood directed films in the Netherlands in this period, most notably Douglas Sirk (Boefje, 1939) and Ludwig Berger (Ergens in Nederland, 1940).
During World War II, the private Dutch film industry came to a near halt. However, the German-led occupation government supported many small propaganda films in support of the Third Reich. The best-known of these were De nieuwe tijd breekt baan (A New Order Arises, 1941), Met Duitschland tegen het Bolsjewisme (With Germany against Bolshevism, 1941) and Werkt in Duitschland (Work in Germany, 1942). After 1943, this funding came to an end, due to internal struggles within the Dutch Kultuurkamer and the lack of money of the occupational government.
In 1946, the Dutch Historical Film Archive was founded, which would become the Nederlands Filmmuseum, today's Eye Filmmuseum. It has played an important role in the preservation and presentation of cinema in general, and Dutch cinema in particular. Its collection encompasses fiction and documentary film, as well as animation, amateur film, and experimental film. The latter has a rich tradition in the Netherlands, not unlike non-fiction film. Cinema newsreel collections, including the Polygoon journaal, state sponsored films, commissioned films, commercials, and (television) documentaries, besides other television productions, are being preserved at the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision.
The Dutch Documentary Tradition
The Documentary film of the Netherlands has been renowned worldwide, propelled first of all by the avant-garde from the 1920s and 1930s, in particular the Filmliga movement,[11] with filmmakers such as Paul Schuitema, Mannus Franken, Andor von Barsy, and Joris Ivens.[12] In the years directly following World War II, most effort was given to the reconstruction of the country, and filmmaking was largely related to that purpose.[13] In that period, the so-called Dutch Documentary School (or Dutch Documentary Tradition) emerged.[14] New filmmakers came to the fore, who received critical acclaim, such as Herman van der Horst, Bert Haanstra, and John Fernhout, among others.
Many other filmmakers came to the fore in the 1960s, eager to explore new pathways and to experiment with film as a medium, supported by broadcasting stations such as VPRO.[15] Among them were the filmmakers and photographers Jan Schaper, Ed van der Elsken and most notably Johan van der Keuken, who had a major impact on Dutch documentary history.
In the same period, Joris Ivens continued to direct films, across the world, for example in Chile and Vietnam, but also in the Netherlands, where he made Rotterdam-Europoort (1966).[13] By that time, Ivens had become the most famous filmmaker from the Netherlands, and he had won many prizes, among them a César Award and a Golden Lion, as well as a career achievement award at the Venice Film Festival. Ivens inspired many other people, including militant filmmakers, such as At van Praag, who established Cineclub Vrijheidsfilms (1966-1986). It produced and distributed films that showed a reality not shown by mainstream media. This critical engagement with cinema became a larger movement, with various other initiatives and politically oriented film collectives, such as the Amsterdams Stadsjournaal (ASJ, 1974-1984), following the example of Newsreel. Several prominent filmmakers started their career in this context, among them Annette Apon, or followed in their footsteps, such as René Scholten and Digna Sinke. A new documentary circuit emerged, which continued to grow over the years, with influential directors such as Heddy Honigmann and Jos de Putter (who also played a pivotal role at VPRO).
Documentary film remains important nowadays within the Dutch film industry and the broader media landscape. The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, held annually in November, has been a major force in this regard too, being one of the largest documentary film festivals in the world.
Flourishing period
In the late 1950s, the film industry in the Netherlands expanded and professionalized, and more resources became available, also for features films. The Nederlands Filmfonds (Netherlands Film Fund) was established in 1957, and the Nederlandse Filmacademie (Netherlands Film Academy) was established in 1958. Bert Haanstra made his first fiction film in 1958, Fanfare, which was a big success. The most famous director of this era is undoubtedly Fons Rademakers, who received critical acclaim in the Netherlands and abroad with a number of films made between 1959 and 1963. Rademakers learned the business from Vittorio De Sica and Jean Renoir and brought his newfound knowledge of foreign art films with him.
The first generation of Dutch filmmakers who graduated from the Dutch Film Academy began to make a name for themselves, among them Frans Bromet, Frans Weisz, and Pieter Verhoeff. While documentary production remained important, Dutch fiction films became gradually more popular in the Netherlands.
A lasting success for Dutch film came in the 1970s, mostly under the influence of Paul Verhoeven. Verhoeven's five films of the decade – Business Is Business (Wat zien ik?, 1971), Turkish Delight (Turks Fruit, 1973), Katie Tippel (Keetje Tippel, 1975), Soldier of Orange (Soldaat van Oranje, 1977) and Spetters (1980) – were box-office hits; they are still in the top-twenty most successful Dutch films ever. Turkish Delight and Soldier of Orange were successful abroad as well and eventually led to Verhoeven's Hollywood career. In 2006 Verhoeven returned to his own language and made Black Book (Zwartboek), his first Dutch spoken film since The Fourth Man (1983).
Other successful directors from this era are Wim Verstappen and Pim de la Parra, whose movies were more commercial than those of their colleagues in the 1960s. In his book Van Fanfare tot Spetters, film historian Hans Schoots argues that the flourishing period of Dutch film lies between these two films, ending with the controversial Spetters, after which the happy era that was the seventies was over, and a more down-to-earth approach to filmmaking kicked in. Indeed, after 1980, few Dutch films managed to bring crowds of millions to the cinemas, partly due to a decline in interest, partly due to home video systems which resulted in an overall drop in cinema attendance in the Netherlands.
Family movies
More consistently successful, especially at the box office, are children's novels adaptations. Modern Dutch family movies follow in the tradition of Henk van der Linden – who made 38 youth films between 1952 and 1984 – and Karst van der Meulen who made twelve of them in the seventies and eighties. 1998's Abeltje and 1999's Kruimeltje were the highest grossing domestic films of these years. Minoes (2001), Pietje Bell (2002), De Schippers van de Kameleon (2002), Pluk van de Petteflet (2004) and De Kameleon 2 (2005) achieved the same in their respective years. The Dutch children's films also got some international critical claim. For instance, Het Paard van Sinterklaas won awards at six foreign film festivals. This prompted producers to make an internationally oriented, big budget (approximately €12million) family film, Crusade in Jeans. While a Dutch production, the film had an international cast and was shot in English.
The family oriented films' reign at the top of the domestic box office came to an end in 2006 with Paul Verhoeven's war thriller Black Book, which was the first Dutch film since Kruimeltje to get over a million admissions. Black Book was the most expensive Dutch film production of all time, with a reported budget of just under €18million. The success was bested only one year later, with the romantic comedy Alles is Liefde.
Decline
A decline in cinema admission set in after the 1970s. Director Dick Maas, making studio-style action-thrillers such as De Lift (1983) and Amsterdamned (1988), was about the only filmmaker having mainstream success in this period. He topped the box office charts with his dysfunctional family comedy Flodder (1986) and its sequel Flodder in Amerika (1992), the latter getting nearly one and a half million admissions, making it the most successful Dutch film since the introduction of the VCR. Some more artistic directors, such as Jos Stelling, Orlow Seunke and Alex van Warmerdam made magic realism movies. Other auteur-directors emerged during this era as well, including Theo van Gogh, Ate de Jong and more recently Cyrus Frisch. In this decade, acclaimed director Fons Rademakers won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film with 1986's The Assault.
In the mid-1990s, the Dutch government introduced tax shelters (the so-called 'CV-regeling') to encourage private investments in Dutch films. After implementation of these new rules there was a boom in production of Dutch movies. It was not the movies made through the tax shelter however, but rather movies aimed at a young audience, such as Costa! (2001), that won back the confidence in the commercial viability of Dutch film. Costa! is about Dutch teenagers vacationing at the Spanish coast. The success of the film spawned several copycat films (for instance Volle Maan (Full Moon Party; 2002)) and a spin-off sitcom (also called Costa!), which ran for several seasons on the public broadcasting network BNN.
After a while the formula wore down and the new commercial flavor became films with a multicultural feel. Hush Hush Baby (Shouf Shouf Habibi, 2004) and Schnitzel Paradise (Het Schnitzelparadijs, 2005) were both comedies featuring Dutch/Moroccan actors and became a commercial success. The difference with Volle Maan is that the films were also acclaimed by critics (both in the Netherlands as internationally) and both films were shown at the Berlin Film Festival.
In the 1980s and 1990s few other Dutch actors had the international success of Hauer and Krabbé. Their contemporaries Monique van de Ven, Derek de Lint, Renée Soutendijk and Huub Stapel all returned to making Dutch films when their Hollywood-efforts proved disappointing. Actress Van de Ven of Turkish Delight-fame moved to the US with her then-husband Jan de Bont and appeared in a number of small American films, to no significant success. De Lint's booked guest appearances in various TV shows like NYPD Blue and The L Word, and a number of supporting roles in theatrical movies, of which the most prominent was The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988). Soutendijk played the female lead in Eve of Destruction (1991) and Huub Stapel, star of all of Dick Maas' box office hits, had a supporting role in a 1988 TV-movie about Anne Frank.
As the decade progressed, actor Yorick van Wageningen made a name for himself by appearing in Beyond Borders (2003), The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) and The New World (2005). These films were to be preceded by a supporting role in Steven Spielberg's Minority Report but due to problems with his visa, he was unable to work on that movie. Contrary to most other Dutch actors successful in Hollywood, Van Wageningen was not a major star in his own country before playing in American films. Likewise, Saskia Mulder (sister to model Karen Mulder) made her debut abroad appearing in French and English films and television series. She had roles in The Beach, The Descent and The Descent: Part 2. She also was a series regular in the Scottish sitcom The Book Group.
There are three large film festivals in the Netherlands:
The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is a film festival for independent, innovative and experimental cinema and visual arts. The international festival is held since 1972 in Rotterdam. During the festival the Tiger Awards are awarded to starting filmmakers.
The Nederlands Film Festival (NFF) has been the annual film festival for Dutch film productions since 1981. The seven-day festival is held in the end of September and early October in Utrecht. Dutch films from the previous year are shown, and the Golden Calves are awarded to the best films, best actors and best other crew members judged by an independent and professional jury.
There are several smaller film festivals in the Netherlands, and several of them are held in Amsterdam. These festivals are either local festivals or festivals specialized in films of a specific genre (e. g. fantastic films), for/about a specific target group (e. g. films for/about deaf people), or from a specific region (e. g. Japanese films).
The KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival is an annual event which take place at the Eye Film Institute Netherlands. This international festival focus on short animated film with a main focus on contemporary animation.
Georg Henri Anton "Joris" Ivens was a Dutch documentary filmmaker. Among the notable films he directed or co-directed are A Tale of the Wind, The Spanish Earth, Rain, ...A Valparaiso, Misère au Borinage (Borinage), 17th Parallel: Vietnam in War, The Seine Meets Paris, Far from Vietnam, Pour le Mistral and How Yukong Moved the Mountains.
Rutger Oelsen Hauer was a Dutch actor, with a film career that spanned over 170 roles across nearly 50 years, beginning in 1969. In 1999, he was named by the Dutch public as the Best Dutch Actor of the Century.
Paul Verhoeven is a Dutch film director. His films are known for their graphic violence and sexual content, combined with social satire. After receiving attention for the TV series Floris in his native Netherlands, Verhoeven's breakthrough film was the romantic drama Turkish Delight (1973), starring frequent collaborator Rutger Hauer. Verhoeven later directed successful Dutch films including the period drama Keetje Tippel (1975), the war film Soldier of Orange (1977), the teen drama Spetters (1980) and the psychological thriller The Fourth Man (1983).
Spetters is a Dutch film released in 1980 and directed by Paul Verhoeven. The film follows the lives of three young men who have little in common but their love for dirt-bike racing. Set on the outskirts of Rotterdam, the film depicts three characters who are hoping to escape a dead-end, working-class existence.
Renette Pauline Soutendijk, known professionally as Renée Soutendijk, is a Dutch actress. A gymnast in her youth, Soutendijk began her acting career in the late 1970s. She was a favorite star of director Paul Verhoeven's films, and is perhaps best known for her work in his 1980 release Spetters and 1983's The Fourth Man. Her good looks and striking blond hair secured her status as a Dutch sex symbol in the 1980s.
Hany Abu-Assad is a Palestinian-Dutch film director. He has received two Academy Award nominations: in 2006 for his film Paradise Now, and again in 2013 for his film Omar.
Robert Piet Houwer is a Dutch film producer. He studied at the University of Television and Film Munich, Germany. In 1964 he directed the short film Anmeldung (Declaration) which was awarded a Silver Bear at the Berlin Filmfest. During the 1960s, Rob Houwer became one of the most prolific producers in Germany, with directors Volker Schlöndorff, Peter Fleischmann, Johannes Schaaf (Tattoo), Michael Verhoeven and Hans-Jürgen Syberberg.
The Netherlands Film Festival is an annual film festival, held in September and October of each year in the city of Utrecht.
Albert Haanstra was a Dutch director of films and documentaries. His documentary Glass (1958) won the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject in 1959. His feature film Fanfare (1958) was the most visited Dutch film at the time, and has since only been surpassed by Turkish Delight (1973).
Martinus Wouter "Martin" Koolhoven is a Dutch film director and screenwriter. Internationally he is most known for Schnitzel Paradise (2005), Winter in Wartime (2008) and Brimstone (2016), which was his first film in English. It was released in 2017, after it premiered in the competition of the Venice Film Festival in 2016.
Dirk Herman Willem Maas (Dick) (born 15 April 1951) is a Dutch film director, screenwriter, film producer and film composer.
Eye Filmmuseum is a film archive, museum, and cinema in Amsterdam that preserves and presents both Dutch and foreign films screened in the Netherlands.
Experimental filmmakers ask whether things could not be done differently. Underground films analyse and critique the mainstream film industry. They step back and reflect. Simultaneously, they take forward leaps to assess new options. Sometimes the makers are self-taught visual artists who make innovative work thanks to their original point of view. Other filmmakers primarily play with the medium film and seek an alternative to the dominant visual culture.
Leonard Retel Helmrich was a Dutch cinematographer and film director. Born in Tilburg, he lived in Amsterdam after 1982. He is a two-time International Documentary winner at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). On June 5, 2018, he was awarded with the title Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion by the Dutch King Willem-Alexander.
Bernhard Droog was a Dutch actor who appeared in 17 films, including the 1997 Academy Award-winning Character, and numerous television and theatre roles. Droog was a recipient of the Order of Orange-Nassau in 1970.
Mannus Franken was a Dutch filmmaker who played an important role in the development of Indonesian cinema. He made his debut as a writer before working with Joris Ivens in producing two documentary films. In 1934 he was called to the Dutch East Indies by Albert Balink to help with the production of Pareh (1936). Franken stayed in the Indies until before World War II, making newsreels. After the war he returned to the country and continued this work. In 1949 Franken returned to the Netherlands, where he made another film before his death.
Mijke de Jong is a Dutch film director, screenwriter and producer. She is known for creating films such as Bluebird (2004), Frailer (2014), Layla M. (2016) and God Only Knows (2019). Layla M. was selected as the 2018 Dutch entry for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.
The Cinema of Suriname is part of the Surinamese culture. National cinema, as a kind of artistic creativity, was born in the second half of the 70s of the 20th century.
Panta Rhei is a Dutch short documentary film by Bert Haanstra, first shown in 1952. It portrays the motions of nature, edited rhythmically with alternating footage of water, clouds and vegetation, sometimes using time-lapse photography. It was Haanstra's fourth film as director and like many of his early films it does not feature any humans. The title is a Greek phrase associated with the philosopher Heraclitus and the concept that everything is in a constant state of becoming something else. The film competed at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival. Critics have highlighted its rhythmicality and vision of nature.
↑ "Jaarboek 2007"(PDF). www.nfcstatistiek.nl (in Dutch). Dutch Federation for Cinematography. 2007. Archived from the original(PDF) on 27 November 2007. Retrieved 13 October 2007.
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