Gather round, Dutch film lovers
JP/18/DUTCH
checked --JSR Erasmus Huis holds 10-day film festival
M. Taufiqurrahman The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Dutch cultural center Erasmus Huis is holding a 10-day film festival that will screen dozens of films with a variety of themes ranging from sociocultural problems that bedevil the tiny nation to its relationships with former colonized countries, Indonesia in particular.
The film festival, part of a program titled Dutch Week, which also covers seminars, concerts and an art exhibition, started on Sept. 15 and continues through Sept. 25, featuring films from controversial director Theo Van Gogh and a film based on the classic book, Max Havelaar, by director Fons Rademakers.
To symbolize the soul-searching drive on relationships between Dutch people and the Muslim community that followed the death of Van Gogh, the film festival was opened with the screening of Shouf Shouf Habibi, a film by director Albert ter Heerdt.
The work is a lighthearted comedy about the life of a Morocco- born Dutch kid who is looking for an identity in the fast- changing and complex world.
Abdullah, a lead character in the movie, dreams of becoming an Arab actor starring in Hollywood movies in the post-9/11 era.
Another film that will likely generate much interest in the festival is 06/05, a politically-charged feature film directed by Theo Van Gogh.
Van Gogh's 06/05 is a fictional version of the events that led to the assassination of flamboyant, far-right Dutch politician Pim Fortuijn.
The film's screenplay was based on the book The Sixth of May by Thomas Ross.
The film title refers to the date Fortuijn was assassinated by Volkert van der Graaf, a white-collar enviromentalist.
Fourtuijn may be the only politician in the Netherlands that evaded Van Gogh's stinging criticism due to the former's stance against the unchecked inflow of Muslim immigrants to the Netherlands.
With the benefit of hindsight, the movie could be seen as a self-fulfilling prophecy, as a similar fate later befell Van Gogh, who died at the hands of a 26-year-old Dutchman of Moroccan origin, Mohammed Bouyeri.
Prior to his tragic death, Van Gogh made a score of films that were considered offensive to the Dutch Muslim community.
His last film, Submission, -- his collaboration with Somalian- born female politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali -- delves into oppression against women in the Muslim community. In the short film, Van Gogh paints on the body of a naked woman writings from the Koran.
On the third day of the festival, Max Havelaar, a film about the struggle of a Dutch officer to help indigenous people who had fallen prey to injustices from their traditional rulers, will be screened.
Set in South Banten in the middle of the 19th century, Max Havelaar was based on the book Multatuli by Eduard Douwes Deker, a government official in the Dutch East Indies.
The book has been considered one of the best ever written in Dutch literature.
Together with other cinematic works such as Blue Bird, In Oranje and Hollands Licht, the films will shed new light on the modern-day Netherlands and its struggling film industry.
In the face on a massive onslaught from Hollywood movies, the Dutch film industry, as in other European countries, has managed to produce just over 30 films per year, paltry by Hollywood standards.
However, only half of these ever make it to the cinema, with the remainder being shown on the small screen.
Only 10 percent of Dutch films screened at the cinema get certified as box-office.
Despite the commercial woes, Dutch films have become the favorites of critics, even in Hollywood. Scores of Dutch films have won Oscars as best foreign movies and some of its brightest talent such as Jan De Bont, Famkee Jansen and Anton Corbijn, have worked at Tinseltown.
Dutch films have also gained cult status in U.S. east-coast cities.
in box: For screening schedule contact: Erasmus Huis Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said Kav. S-3, Kuningan, South Jakarta, tel. 5241069 or e-mail: info@erasmushuis.or.id, website www.erasmushuis.or.id
Caption: A scene from Max Havelaar, a film by Dutch filmmaker Fons Rademaker. The film delves into efforts by an official with the Dutch East Indies administration in the fight against injustices against indigenous people. (Courtesy of Erasmus Huis)