Martinus Wouter "Martin" Koolhoven (born 25 April 1969) is a Dutch

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

. Internationally he is most known for ''

Schnitzel Paradise Martin Koolhoven's ''Schnitzel Paradise'' ( nl, Het Schnitzelparadijs) is a 2005 Dutch comedy film about Dutch-Moroccan Nordip Dounia who starts working in a restaurant kitchen and falls in love with Agnes Meerman, niece of the hotel's manager. ...

'' (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 The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

in 2016.

Early life and education

Martin Koolhoven was born on 25 April 1969 in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

in the

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 ...

. Koolhoven went to the Dutch Film Academy (in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

) and graduated in 1996 as a screenwriter and director.

Career

His first film was a 53-minute television film named ''Duister Licht'' (''"Dark Light"''). His second film ''Suzy Q'' featured actress

Carice van Houten Carice Anouk van Houten () is a Dutch actress and singer (born 5 September 1976 in Leiderdorp). Her first leading role in the television film ''Suzy Q'' (1999) won her the Golden Calf for Best Acting in a Television Drama; two years later, s ...

, who Koolhoven worked with several times in the films to come. It was also the feature debut of actor

Michiel Huisman Michiel Huisman (; born 18 July 1981) is a Dutch actor who has acted in both Dutch and English-language TV series and films. Huisman began his career in the Dutch soap opera ''Goede tijden, slechte tijden'' (1998). He later played in the Dutc ...

. His first (Dutch) cinematic release was ''

AmnesiA Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or disease,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be caused temporarily by the use ...

'' (2001), which also got a small release in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In 2004, Koolhoven was one of the ''New Faces In European Cinema'' as presented by

Pedro Almodovar Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning " ...

at the AFI festival (Hollywood). In 2005 Koolhoven directed ''

''. The film was shown at many international film festivals, including the

Berlin Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

and the

Karlovy Vary Film Festival The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival ( cs, Mezinárodní filmový festival Karlovy Vary) is a film festival held annually in July in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival is one of the oldest in the world and has become ...

where it was part of the Variety Critic's choice. In the same year Koolhoven released ''Bonkers'', a children's movie. In 2008 Koolhoven made ''Oorlogswinter ( Winter in Wartime)'', a Dutch movie based on the novel by the same name, written by

Jan Terlouw Jan Cornelis Terlouw (born 15 November 1931) is a retired Dutch politician, physicist and author. A member of the Democrats 66 (D66) party, he served as Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1981 to 1982 under Prime Minister Dries van A ...

. The movie was the Dutch entry for the

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

but failed to get nominated. The movie was distributed in the United States by

Sony Classics Sony Pictures Classics Inc. is an American film production and distribution company that is a division of Sony Pictures. It was founded in 1992 by former Orion Classics heads Michael Barker, Tom Bernard and Marcie Bloom. It distributes, produc ...

and was sold to about 25 other countries. In 2010, Koolhoven started his own production company, together with producer Els Vandevorst, called N279 Entertainment that produced several movies. His first production for N279 Entertainment as a director was the

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

named ''Brimstone''. It premiered at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival in 2016 and became Koolhoven's fifth consecutive hit film in

The 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 ...

. In 2020, Koolhoven received the Silver Rose, an award given annually to a person or institution that is or has been of great significance to the Dutch film world. In 2022 Koolhoven was presented with the Rutger Hauer Award, which is given annually to a person or an institution that has made an important contribution to the development and promotion of young film talent in the Netherlands. Koolhoven has said to be working on a noir thriller, set in

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...

Filmography

Films

* ''Chess'' (1993) – short film * ''KOEKOEK!'' (1995) – short film * ''De Orde Der Dingen'' (1996) – short film * '' Duister licht'' (1997) – TV film * '' Suzy Q'' (1999) – TV film * ''

'' (2001) * '' De grot'' (2001) * ''

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

'' (2004) * ''

'' (2005) * '' Knetter'' (2005) * ''

'n Beetje Verliefd ''n Beetje Verliefd'' (official English title: ''Happy Family'', literal translation: ''a little in love'') is a 2006 Dutch comedy film directed by Martin Koolhoven. The film received a Golden Film award since the film sold 100,000 tickets. ...

'' (2006) * '' Winter in Wartime'' (2008) * '' Brimstone'' (2016)

TV series

* ''

Koefnoen ''Koefnoen'' (say: ''koof noon'') was a popular Dutch television show, aired by the AVRO between 2004 and 2016. The first episode aired on 17 September 2004. The sketches on this show were taking a look at the past week. Most characters in ''Ko ...

'' (2007) – western and Ingmar Bergman parodies * ''De kijk van Koolhoven'' (2018-now) – Dutch TV series in which Koolhoven takes a look at his favorite genres and their movies.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Koolhoven, Martin 1969 births Dutch film directors Dutch screenwriters Dutch male screenwriters Golden Calf winners Living people Mass media people from The Hague