Around the world in 40 Dutch films

A scene from Rain, by Joris Ivens.

By Julio Nakamurakare

Herald Staff

Ivens, Verhoeven, Corbijn included in selection of BA festival kicking off today

For the next two weeks, BA audiences are getting another excellent opportunity to make the acquaintance of a selection of film gems, as the NL/FilmFest 2015 is scheduled to show more than 40 Dutch works from masters such as Joris Ivens to young talents like Jim Taihuttu, who share a love for light and photographic imagery, as does the famous documentary-maker Heddy Honigmann, whose Around the World in 50 Concerts will premiere in Argentina during the film feast (one of the Fest’s highlights, please take note).

From Honigmann’s tender look on The Netherlands’ most important orchestra, which performed in Argentina, to Taihuttu’s humorous take on immigrants from the outskirts of Amsterdam, NL/FilmFest is a true celebration of diversity in Dutch cinema.

Specifying its diversity, the organizing body, NIBA, has worked closely with the cinematheque at the Sala Lugones (Teatro San Martin), the Museo del Libro y de la Lengua (National Library), the newly-opened Cine de la Asociacion de Amigos del Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Centro Ana Frank and Club Cultural Matienzo. Each participating venue has its own profile and identity, and the films are programmed with specific viewers in mind.

The Netherlands has a great history in filmmaking, as in World War II. The Centro Ana Frank will show four of the best war-themed movies of the last 15 years, such as De Tweeling, based on the true story of twin sisters growing up on different sides of the border; Süskind, on a Jewish man working for the Nazis, showing the complexities of wartime Holland; and the famous Blackbook by Paul Verhoeven, easily approachable in his Hollywood phase, and quite elusive during his Netherlands years.

Verhoeven’s latest film, Tricked, will premiere at the Sala Lugones. Verhoeven, as an experiment, invited the audience to participate in writing the screenplay, making this film on a middle-aged-man a joint adventure. The Lugones will also show, for the first time in Argentina, a retrospective of the ideological adventure artist with a camera, the celebrated Joris Ivens.

The National Fine Arts Museum (MNBA) will screen films and documentaries on Vermeer, Van Gogh and the new documentary on Dutch star photographer Anton Corbijn. At the Museo del Libro y de la Lengua, films based on literary sources will be screened, such as Tirza, by infamous author Arnon Grunberg.

Club Cultural Matienzo, meanwhile, will show a programme of shorts and young talent, such as the abovementioned Taihuttu.

Apart from film screenings, the NL/Filmfest will also present a panorama of Dutch cinema through Skypemeetings with famous filmmakers, most of them before or right after the screenings.

Since name-dropping doesn’t make much sense when not accompanied by a succinct introduction, perhaps it is worth underlining, among all the remarkable material in this festival, the Joris Ivens Retrospective at the Sala Lugones. Under the title Joris Ivens, Filmmaker of the World, the Lugones will showcase 13 films by Ivens, the great Dutch documentary-maker, from his early years in silent movies to his last feature made in the late 1980s, shortly before his death. The programme was put together by Marceline Loridan Ivens, the filmmaker’s widow and long-time collaborator. The series includes the newly-restored print of the legendary Loin du Vietnam (1967), an omnibus movie with Jean-Luc Godard, William Klein, Claude Lelouch, Chris Marker, Alain Resnais and Agnès Varda showing their sympathy for the North-Vietnamese army during the Vietnam-war.

The Joris Ivens retrospective is complemented by another exceptional series, NL/FilmFest-Contemporary Dutch Auteurs, a selection of seven recent Dutch movies showcased at Dutch festivals. The series will be screened at the Lugones, the Museo del Libro y la Lengua, the MNBA, the Centro Ana Frank, and the Club Cultural Matienzo.

When and where

NL/Film Fest. Daily from July 1 to 15. Venues: NIBA (Netherlands Institute in BA. info@niba-argentina.org); MNBA, Av. del Libertador 1473 (www.mnba.gob.ar); Museo del Libro y de la Lengua, Las Heras 2555 (www.museo.bn.gov.ar), Sala Lugones / Teatro San Martín, Av. Corrientes 1530 (complejoteatral.gob.ar/ver/cine); Centro Ana Frank, Superí 2647 (www.centroanafrank.com.ar); Club Cultural Matienzo, Pringles 1249 (www.ccmatienzo.com.ar).

http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/192908/nl-fest-around-the-world-in-40-dutch-films