The Netherlands 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. Besides feature films, the program also consists of short subjects, documentary films, and television productions. On the closing evening of the festival, the Golden Calves are awarded to the best films, directors, and actors.
Together with the Netherlands Film Fund, the festival also recognises box office results of Dutch film productions during the year with the Crystal Film (10,000 visitors of documentary films), Golden Film (100,000 visitors), Platinum Film (400,000 visitors), and Diamond Film (1,000,000 visitors).
History
The Netherlands Film Festival was founded in 1981 by the Dutch film maker Jos Stelling, who called it the "Netherlands Film Days" (). Initially, the festival was oriented towards film makers only, but it gradually reached a broader audience.
The 36th edition of the festival, in 2016, attracted more than 150,000 visitors.
Canon of Dutch cinema
In 2007, the festival presented their Canon of Dutch Cinema, (), containing sixteen monumental films in Dutch film history. The list included the following films: The Misadventure of a French Gentleman Without Pants at the Zandvoort Beach (Willy Mullens and Alberts Frères, 1905) A Carmen of the North (Maurits Binger, 1919) Rain (Joris Ivens, 1929) The Tars (Jaap Speyer, 1934) (Herman van der Horst, 1952) Fanfare (Bert Haanstra, 1958) Like Two Drops of Water (Fons Rademakers, 1963) Blind Kind (Johan van der Keuken, 1964) (Adriaan Ditvoorst, 1965) Living (Frans Zwartjes, 1971) Turkish Delight (Paul Verhoeven, 1973) Flodder (Dick Maas, 1986) The Northerners (Alex van Warmerdam, 1992) The Pocket-knife (Ben Sombogaart, 1992) (Jos de Putter, 1993) Father and Daughter (Michaël Dudok de Wit, 2000)
Special guests
Since 1992, the festival organisation invites a special guest, usually a respected director or actor in the Dutch film business.
1992: Paul Schrader
1993: Krzysztof Zanussi
1994: Rutger Hauer
1995: Nouchka van Brakel
1996: Jan de Hartog
1997: Monique van de Ven
1998: First Floor Features
1999: ? 2000: Heddy Honigmann 2001: Renée Soutendijk 2002: Pieter Verhoeff 2003: Jan Decleir 2004: Jean van de Velde 2005: Jos Stelling 2006: Johanna ter Steege 2007: Burny Bos 2008: Monic Hendrickx 2009: Jack Wouterse 2010: Anneke Blok 2011: Frans van Gestel 2012: Jeroen Willems 2013: Paula van der Oest 2014: Fons Merkies 2016: Willem de Beukelaer
Awards
Besides the Golden Calves the Festival also has its own special awards.
Dutch Film Critics award
Award of the city Utrecht
Tuschinski Award (former Cannon City Prize) Talent & Pro Student Award NPS Award for best short film Teen Award Cinema.nl Film Poster Award (former Skrien Afficheprijs) Grolsch Film Award
Opening films
1981 The Girl with the Red Hair
1982
1983 Giovanni
1984
1985
1986 The Pointsman
1987
1988 Shadow Man
1989 Blueberry Hill
1990 Vigour
1991 The Province
1992 The Three Best Things in Life
1993 Unknown Time
1994 1000 Roses
1995 Antonia's Line
1996
1997 Tropic of Emerald
1998
1999 Under the Palms
2000 Wild Mussels
2001
2002 Ramses
2003 Phileine Says Sorry
2004 Simon
2005 Life!Life! 2006 Waiter 2007 Duska 2008 In Real Life 2009 Tramontana 2010 TirzaTirza 2011 The Gang of Oss 2012 The Zigzag Kid 2013 The Price of Sugar 2014 Reckless 2015 J. Kessels 2016 2017 Tulipani, Love, Honour and a Bicycle 2018 Open Seas 2019 Instinct 2020 BuladóBuladó 2021 2023 Sweet Dreams
See also
Cinema of the Netherlands
Documentary film of the Netherlands
References
External links
Official website
Netherlands Film Festival at the Internet Movie Database
Film festivals in the Netherlands
Recurring events established in 1981
Mass media in Utrecht (province)