A Dutch documentary film is a

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

made by a

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

of (partly)

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

origin. Dutch documentary films are not necessarily bound to Dutch topics or locations in the Netherlands.

History

Before 1945

The first known Dutch documentary was made in 1916 by Johann Vierboom. The film ''Storm en noodweer in Nederland'' shows the 1916 flood disaster at the coasts of the

Zuiderzee The Zuiderzee or Zuider Zee (; old spelling ''Zuyderzee'' or ''Zuyder Zee'') was a shallow bay of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands, extending about 100 km (60 miles) inland and at most 50 km (30 miles) wide, with an o ...

. Another documentary film of this era is ''Holland Neutraal: De leger- en vlootfilm'' (1917) by

Willy Mullens Willy Mullens (4 October 1880, Weesp, North Holland - 21 April 1952, The Hague) was a Dutch producer, director, and promoter of movies. He is considered to be one of the early pioneers of Cinema of the Netherlands, Dutch cinema, and one of his mov ...

. One of the most famous Dutch documentary film directors is

Joris Ivens Georg Henri Anton "Joris" Ivens (18 November 1898 – 28 June 1989) 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'', ''M ...

. Ivens started making his own films in 1928. The first was an avant-garde look at a Rotterdam bridge, ''The Bridge'' ('' De brug'', 1928). His later films were more realistic, socially concerned and polemical. '' The Spanish Earth'' (1937) is one of his most famous films. In order to make internationally oriented documentaries, Ivens travelled to countries such as the Soviet Union, Spain, China, Australia and the United States.

1945-1965

After the 2nd World war, films of the acclaimed documentary film directors

Bert Haanstra Albert Haanstra (; 31 May 1916 – 23 October 1997) 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 mo ...

and

Herman van der Horst Herman may refer to: People * Herman (name), list of people with this name * Saint Herman (disambiguation) * Peter Noone (born 1947), known by the mononym Herman Places in the United States * Herman, Arkansas * Herman, Michigan * Herman, Minn ...

dominated Dutch cinema. Their work is internationally known as the ‘Dutch Documentary School’. A feature of the documentary films of this era is the use of human beings as a metaphor. Van der Horst and Haanstra both won prizes at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

. Van der Horst's most famous movie is '' Faja Lobbi'' (1960), while Haanstra gained international fame for his renowned documentary Alleman (''

The Human Dutch ''The Human Dutch'' ( nl, Alleman) is a 1963 Dutch documentary film directed by Bert Haanstra, about the daily lives of people in the Netherlands. It was a big success in the Netherlands with almost 1.7 million admissions, the third most succe ...

'', 1963). Other directors of the Dutch Documentary School are Charles Huguenot van der Linden, and John Fernhout.

After 1965

After the era of the Dutch Documentary School, Dutch documentaries lost their uniformity. Instead of forming a group, joining forces and sharing stylistic trademarks, filmmakers mostly worked on independent projects or projects for television networks. Contemporary documentary directors have produced a wide variety of works. Contemporary directors with international successes are

Jos de Putter Jos de Putter ( Terneuzen, 1959) is a Dutch film director, film critic and screenwriter who primarily makes Dutch documentary films. He studied political science and literature at the University of Leiden, and was a member of the editorial staff ...

Heddy Honigmann Heddy Honigmann (1 October 1951 – 21 May 2022) was a Peruvian-born Dutch film director of fictional and documentary films. Early life and education Honigmann was born on 1 October 1951 in Lima, Peru, to Jewish refugees. Her mother, Sarah Pa ...

Johan van der Keuken Johan van der Keuken (; 4 April 1938 – 7 January 2001) was a Dutch documentary filmmaker, author, and photographer. In a career that spanned 42 years, Van der Keuken produced 55 documentary films, six of which won eight awards. He also wrot ...

and

Leonard Retel Helmrich Leonard Retel Helmrich (16 August 1959 – 15 July 2023) was a Dutch cinematographer and film director. Born in Tilburg, he lived in Amsterdam since 1982. He received highest honours for international documentaries at the ''Sundance Festival'' a ...

. In the late 20th century, documentary films are mainly shown on Dutch television networks, although some cinemas and art houses show Dutch documentary films. Nowadays, internet provides worldwide access to Dutch documentary films displayed online.

Dutch organizations regarding documentary films

Dutch funds

*The

Netherlands Film Fund The Netherlands Film Fund ( nl, Nederlands Filmfonds) is a subsidy fund for Dutch film productions and was founded in 1993. The Netherlands Film Fund is itself mainly subsidized by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. In 2007, th ...

offers financial support to develop, actualize and distribute documentary film productions, designated for cinema. *Mediafonds offers subsidy for the development and production of, among other things, documentary films by public broadcasting.

Online broadcasting

Holland Doc 24 Nederland 24 was the collective name for a number of specialty television channels from the Dutch public broadcasting system. It also broadcasts a sample channel of the same name featuring a mix of programming from the other thematic channels. A cou ...

is a Dutch digital documentary channel. The channel is continuously broadcasting sections of multiple public broadcasting channels, including the programs VPRO's Import, Zembla,

Tegenlicht ''Backlight'' ( nl, Tegenlicht) is a documentary television program by Dutch public broadcasting organisation VPRO.Tegenlicht
...

, NCRV Dokument, Profiel, Reporter and Het uur van de Wolf. *The Docsonline Foundation is an independent, Dutch non-profit organization with a mission to support professional documentary makers financially by exposing their work on a wide international scale to a paying audience. The foundation organizes a documentary on-demand website which provides a collection of over 400 documentary films.

Film festivals

The following Dutch film festivals are known to show (Dutch) documentary films: *

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is the world's largest documentary film festival held annually since 1988 in Amsterdam. Over a period of twelve days, it has screened more than 300 films and sold more than 250,000 tic ...

, the world's largest documentary film festival held annually in Amsterdam. *

Netherlands Film Festival The Netherlands Film Festival ( nl, Nederlands Film Festival) is an annual film festival, held in September and October of each year in the city of Utrecht. During the ten-day festival, Dutch film productions and co-productions are exhibited. Be ...

, an annual film festival held in Utrecht. Dutch film productions are exhibited, including documentaries. *

International Film Festival Rotterdam The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since its foundation in 1972, it has maintained a focus on independent and experimental fi ...

, an annual film festival held in Rotterdam *Beeld voor Beeld festival in Amsterdam is an annual documentary film festival with a main focus on

ethnographic film An ethnographic film is a non-fiction film, often similar to a documentary film, historically shot by Western filmmakers and dealing with non-Western people, and sometimes associated with anthropology. Definitions of the term are not definitive. ...

. *

Movies that matter Festival A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

is an annual film festival, emphasizing on documentary films about human rights.

List of Dutch documentary films

Notes and references

{{Reflist

External links

Dutch directors guild
association for all Dutch TV and film directors.
Documentary producers Netherlands
association for acknowledged large and medium-sized Dutch documentary producers.
Article
by Dutch documentary film maker Jos de Putter (2011) ''Nederlandse documentaires in een tijd van schaarste''. Mediafonds magazine.
Netherlands Film Fund
official page

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Documentary