By Nils Bothmann. When Dutch cinema comes up, the first name that springs to mind is that of the internationally renowned director Paul Verhoeven who conquered Hollywood with BASIC INSTINCT, ROBOCOP or TOTAL RECALL. It may be due to his later Hollywood fame that many of his early Dutch works receive recognition beyond the borders of their country of origin – e.g. the THE FOURTH MAN, which was anticipating BASIC INSTINCT, or SOLDIER OF ORANGE. His 1973 film TURKISH DELIGHT turned out to be the most successful domestic film in the Netherlands. But Verhoeven is only one of many Dutch talents who have followed the call of Hollywood, among them Verhoevens favourite actor Rutger Hauer, actress Famke Janssen or director of photography-turned-director Jan de Bont.

Dick Maas

Considering this exodus of talents and the fact that the annual output of Dutch film is rather low, it's hardly astonishing that the only other current Dutch director, whose name rings out internationally is Dick Maas. Maas was responsible for the action thriller AMSTERDAMNED and the tongue-in-cheek horror movie THE LIFT, but he also cashed in with his hugely successful FLODDER trilogy about the Dutch white trash family of the same name. Both directors dominated Dutch cinema mostly during the 1970s and 80s.

The Dutch Documentary School

Less well-known but just as important is the Dutch Documentary School, as this format still has a special place in the film industry of the Netherlands. The movement's most successful times were in the 1950s and 60s, its figurehead being Bert Haanstra who won the first ever Academy Award for a documentary short subject for his film GLASS in 1959. He had already won the Palm d'Or in Cannes in 1951 for another short documentary, MIRROR OF HOLLAND, and in 1963 he received the Golden Bear in Berlin for his feature documentary THE HUMAN DUTCH. His contemporary colleague Herman van der Horst had similar success, winning amongst other prices the Golden Bear for his documentary FAJA LOBBI in 1960.

Dutch Festivals

Because of its policy of liberal censorship the Netherlands have always been a favourite destination of horror and action fans, especially during the VHS years. But the festival culture, too, is attractive to visitors: The most famous festival is certainly the Nederlands Film Festival in Utrecht, which was founded in 1981 and shows mostly domestic films of all lengths and formats. There are also several international festival, such as the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival, established 1984, or the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam which has been emphasizing the importance of documentary filmmaking in the Netherlands since 1988. The most persistent institution in this area is the Cinestud, a student film festival existing since 1960. It came just a couple of years after the foundation of the Nederlandse Filmacademie in 1958, which is seated in Amsterdam and is one of three main points of attraction for Dutch film students - the other two being the Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten and Amsterdam University, who both also provide film and media studies lectures.

The Nederlands Film Fund dates back to the year 1957, although state financing has gone through several changes up until today with two separate funds having been united as the Netherlands Film Fund only as recently as 1993. Domestic filmmakers can receive support in the form of up to two thirds of their production budget via this fund, who also provides rules and regulations for international co-operations.

Links

• FUNFAIR (NL 2009. Annette Otto)
• MACHINE GUN (NL 2010. Henk Loorbach)