The output of the highly respected Studio Nieuwe Gronden, and of its co-founder René Scholten, will be celebrated at this year's Netherlands Film Festival
This year the Netherlands Film Festival will stage a retrospective of the films of Studio Nieuwe Gronden, home to the Amsterdam-based producer René Scholten. With two Scholten-produced films already screening in competition at this year's festival - De nieuwe moeder (Another Mother) by Paula van der Oest and De kersenplunk (The Cherry Pick) by Arno Kranenborg - the retrospective will not only demonstrate the producer's prolific output but also his profound understanding of what filmmaking can achieve.
'For me, the most ideal films have, of course, an interesting content,' he comments, 'but I am always aware of the importance of the cinematographic element: how to tell a story as clearly as possible and how to tell more in an indirect way - for example, through how the camera is used. This is very important.'
In 1974 Scholten helped found a co-operative of filmmakers, producing and directing films for the Amsterdam City Newsreel, which were screened before the major features in cinemas. 'I was never one of the die-hard ideologists in the group. The filmic side was, for me, always more important than the political side.'
The group was invaluable and great things were achieved, but the limitations of the co-operative system led Scholten to begin to concentrate more and more on productions outside the collective set-up. He helped to found Studio Nieuwe Gronden in 1980, where 'a greater freedom and a greater sense of responsibility' was immediately granted.
Exploiting this greater freedom to the full Scholten and Studio Nieuwe Gronden have, since 1980, amassed an impressive array of award-winning feature films, shorts and documentaries - an oeuvre which forms the basis of this year's retrospective.
The retrospective includes:
1987 Ei (Egg), Danniel Danniel
1992 De drie beste dingen (The Three Best Things In Life), Ger Popelaars
1992 Boven de bergen (Above the Mountains), Digna Sinke
1993 Hartverscheurend (Love Hurts), Mijke de Jong
1993 Belle van zuylen, Digna Sinke
1994 Eenmaal geslagen, nooit meer be wogen (Once Beaten Twice Shy), Gerrard Verhage
Holland Days/New Amsterdam to New YorkHolland Film (formerly known as Holland Film Promotion) will organise two workshops at this year's Holland Film Meeting. Both are designed to demonstrate US methods of product packaging and assess the viability of applying these methods to product from The Netherlands.
Jim Byerley, director of film evaluation at New York-based HBO, will take four Dutch feature films and assess how their structure could be amended in order to meet with greater commercial success in the US. Joy Pereths and John Tilley of ProActive, which has offices in New York and LA, will lead a workshop entitled 'What You Don't Know Can Hurt You'.
Claudia Landsberger, director of international relations at Holland Film, says: 'Given the determination to forge links between the film communities of the Benelux countries and New York, these workshops will attempt to overcome the difficulties that Dutch producers encounter when it comes to generating greater interest in their films within the US.'
