Articles


Lola Mooij - Finding Magic in Real Life

Amsterdam, 2024-01-23 - Judith Boeschoten and Nina da Costa

It’s a cold winter day when we arrive at Lola Mooij’s front door. She invites us in, pours us hot tea, and lights a few candles to make her already warm apartment extra cozy for us. She was reading The Secret Garden, a children's book written in 1911, about finding magic in the mundane. For the next two hours, Lola describes how she brings her own projects to life, inspiring her crew to pour in that extra touch of magic, whatever genre they’re working in.


2024 ROBBY MÜLLER AWARD goes to GRIMM VANDEKERCKHOVE

Amsterdam, 2023-12-12 - NSC / IFFR

The recipient of our fifth annual Robby Müller Award is Belgian cinematographer Grimm Vandekerckhove, renowned for his delicate, humanist work with filmmaker Bas Devos, amongst others.


Goert Giltay - Zen and the Art of Tightrope Walking

Amsterdam, 2023-11-29 - Gerlinda Heywegen

Goert Giltay, recently retired director of photography with a huge track record, likes to leave things up to others when his style is concerned. Every film was a new search. Sometimes his work had to be zen and a few times he got angry. But friendship was the core of his work, with ‘his’ heroes of cinema, the directors.


EURO CINE EXPO 2023 - MOTORWORLD, MUNICH

Amsterdam, 2023-07-05 - Miga Bär

Last year Munich and the German film industry were introduced to a new event called Euro Cine Expo. On June 30 and July 1 of this year the sophomore edition took place at Motorworld in Munich.


Lennert Hillege - Making Movies at Full Steam!

Amsterdam, 2023-06-08 - Gerlinda Heywegen

Director of Photography Lennert Hillege claims he does not have his own style. He is just as good or bad as the project he works on. He says he is always looking for the right wavelength to attune to in collaborations, whether that is with directors he has worked with for years or whether he works with new ones, such as Steve McQueen with whom he worked recently.


HBO CAS 2023

Amsterdam, 2023-06-21 - Ties Versteegh NSC

On Wednesday, June 14th, the NSC presented the exclusive HBO CAS 2023 showcased by Director of Photography:Suny Behar.


Piotr Kukla - No plans on retiring any time soon!

Den Haag, 2023-01-06 - Gerlinda Heywegen

Piotr Kukla will often use that word in this interview when he is talking about something or someone. A little afraid that he won’t be able to work in the Netherlands anymore because of his age, enthusiastic about his students at the Łódź Film School in Poland. Full of love for the directors he has worked with for years, and where storyboarding is sacred.


P I N A

Amsterdam, 2023-01-13 - Nina da Costa

In the run-up to the ceremony of the 4th edition of the Robby Müller Award, the NSC takes you on a journey along the films of winner cinematographer Hélène Louvart AFC.


Sander Snoep - Never in charge, always a guest

Amsterdam, 2022-09-02 - Gerlinda Heywegen

Sander Snoep has been a well-known player in the Dutch documentary scene for years and would never have expected to still be so passionate about his profession. He is still curious every single time he’s starting a project. How his films get made, in rain or shine, does not matter to him. As long as they come about.


Paul Özgür - In a hurry to make that one masterpiece

Amsterdam, 2022-02-25 - Gerlinda Heywegen

He’s aiming for a large audience. His work has to be seen by as many people as possible. He talks about balance, Dutch DP Paul Özgür. In style and story and also in his own portfolio. And then there are the rules.


Myrthe Mosterman - Finding Synergy

Amsterdam, 2021-11-15 - Gerlinda Heywegen

A Gouden Kalf Award (Dutch film award) for her first feature film; that is what happened to DP Myrthe Mosterman in October 2020. In a Zoom interview, she talks about her style and how she prefers to work. NSC manifest New Deal pops up once again in this interviews series and it seems inevitable to address ‘being a woman’ within this ‘male profession’. But so far, she does not yet have to use a nom de plume.


Jean Counet - A jazz musician’s travels

Amsterdam, 2021-06-01 - Gerlinda Heywegen

There were five films on the shortlist for discussion with DP Jean Counet. Two feature films and three documentaries. Although Counet studied Directing at St Lukas, Brussels, he prefers to be a cameraman. But the conversation via Zoom kicked off with his own work, due to the March 2020 lockdown.


Martijn van Broekhuizen - Gangs of London

Amsterdam, 2021-04-23 - Aart Verschuur

Martijn van Broekhuizen worked on the first season of Gangs of London and is currently shooting the second season. 


Richard van Oosterhout - Insight and Wonder

The Netherlands, 2021-02-10 - Gerlinda Heywegen

Netherlands Society of Cinematographers initiates a series of interviews. NSC chair Richard van Oosterhout starts. He talks about his work, a Dutch New Deal, creativity on set and about breaking with what you know.


2021 ROBBY MÜLLER AWARD goes to Kelly Reichardt

Rotterdam, 2020-12-22 - Bianca van Riemsdijk

Kelly Reichardt will receive the second annual Robby Müller Award. As part of the award, she will also receive a gallery print of one of Robby Müller’s Polaroids.


Sidik and The Panther

Amsterdam, 2020-11-17 - Freek Zonderland

SIDIK AND THE PANTHER is a film about a man called Sidik, wandering around in the mountains of Kurdistan looking for a sign of the Persian leopard. Directed by Reber Dosky and shot by Roy van Egmond. Selected for IDFA 2019 and Camerimage 2020, mominated for an IMAGE award.


Sisters

Amsterdam, 2020-05-05 - Freek Zonderland

ZUSSEN (SISTERS) is a short dance film by director Daphne Lucker and cinematographer Casper van Oort. It has screened and has won prices at festivals all over the world. In November it screened in the student competition at Camerimage and it won the IMAGO Student Award 2020. 


Onderhuids

Amsterdam, 2020-04-27 - Freek Zonderland

ONDERHUIDS (UNDER THE SKIN) from director Emma Branderhorst and cinematographer Michel Rosendaal screened at the Berlinale earlier this year. We spoke with Michel about this poetically shot twenty-minute short film. 


First ROBBY MÜLLER AWARD goes to Diego García

Rotterdam, 2019-10-30 - IFFR / NSC

The Robby Müller Award honours an ‘image maker’ who, in the spirit of the late Robby Müller, has created an authentic, credible and emotionally striking visual language throughout their oeuvre. The first award goes to Diego García and will be presented at the 49th International Film Festival Rotterdam.


The Circle of Film

Amsterdam, 2019-10-02 - Jean van de Velde

"Wil de Nederlandse filmcultuur overleven, dan zal de filmketen een filmketting moeten worden! Dan moet het einde van die keten (de filmexploitatie) aan het begin (de filmproductie) geklonken worden. Dan moeten de baten aan het einde de 'boost' voor een nieuw begin zijn."


Regisseurs naar de achterbank

Amsterdam, 2019-08-24 - Jos van der Burg & Karin Wolfs

“Doreen krijgt heel veel power.” Aldus waarnemend Filmfonds-directeur Ger Bouma tien jaar geleden over de benoeming van Doreen Boonekamp tot directeur. Anders dan haar voorgangers kreeg Boonekamp bij haar aantreden twee petten: ze werd zowel directeur als bestuurder van het Filmfonds.


New Deal NSC

Amsterdam, 2019-04-17 - NSC

Uit een NSC-enquête die in mei 2018 onder de leden is gehouden, was de belangrijkste conclusie dat het de DP’s frustreert dat ze hun werk niet optimaal kunnen uitvoeren. Daarom dit manifest met suggesties om het werkproces te veranderen.


Living the Light, at 75th Venice International Film Festival

Amsterdam, 2018-11-18 - Vincent Visser

Living the Light – Robby Müller, made by Claire Pijman NSC, will have its world premiere at the 75th Venice International Film Festival and is selected for the Venice Classics competition


Time Layers Come Together

Amsterdam, 2018-11-17 - Vincent Visser

'Paolo Ventura, Vanishing Man,’ shows how an Italian artist creates his own timeless melancholic world in a barn on an abandoned mountaintop in Italy. With paint, cardboard, and relics of a human life, he resonates his childhood’s memories and isolation by giving himself and found objects a new magical life.   


Frank van den Eeden about Waldstille

Amsterdam, - Vincent Visser

Dutch cinematographer Frank van den Eeden (May 14, 1971), resident of Antwerp is best known for his work with directors such as Fien Troch, Nanouk Leopold and Jan Verheyen. Besides many nominations he has won several awards for his work as cinematographer.  One of his later productions is ‘Waldstille’ from writer and director Martijn Maria Smits, a feature film that got its world-premiere during the San Sebastian Film Festival in 2016. The NSC talked with Frank about this film.


NSC Investigates Film Making Process in The Netherlands

Amsterdam, 2019-05-01 - NSC

The Netherlands Society of Cinematographers (NSC) conducted a survey among its members as a response to the Netherlands Film Production Incentive 2014-2017 evaluation.


The Cinematographer as Co-Author

Amsterdam, 2019-05-09 - Hans Beerekamp

While cleaning up his archive, film journalist Hans Beerekamp found several editions of the (small-scale published) Dutch film magazine Cineécri.


Emotional Shapes and Textures - Daniël Bouquet

Amsterdam, 2018-07-15 - Vincent Visser

Immediately after his graduation from the Dutch Film Academy in 2006, Daniël Bouquet made a flying start as Director of Photography. For his second feature length production “Nothing Personal” (2008) he won the Golden Calf award for best Cinematography during the Netherlands Film Festival in 2009. Nowadays he works mainly on a variety of international projects, amongst commercials for major brands like Adidas, Gillette and Vogue. The NSC talked with him about his career, interests and more.  


Beerified Scope

Amsterdam, 2018-11-16 - Vincent Visser

Joris Kerbosch (Culemborg, 1980) is best known for his work as cinematographer for directing duo Steffen Haars and Flip van der Kuil, for whom he shot the movies ‘New Kids Turbo’ (2010), ‘New Kids Nitro’ (2011) and ‘BROs BEFORE HOs’ (2013). ‘Ron Goossens, Low-Budget Stuntman,’ is their fourth feature film collaboration. Together those comedies where amongst the highest grossing films in The Netherlands and acclaimed international recognition. NSC spoke with cinematographer Joris Kerbosch about the film.


GHOST TROPIC

Amsterdam, 2024-01-17 - NSC

The winner of the fifth Robby Müller Award is the Belgian DOP GRIMM VANDEKERCKHOVE. He is known for the subtler way in which he captures the inner world of characters, such as that of a cleaning lady on a nighttime journey home in GHOST TROPIC (2019)

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Sidik and The Panther


Amsterdam, 2020-11-17 - Freek Zonderland

'Sidik en De Panter' is a film about a man called Sidik, wandering around in the mountains of Kurdistan looking for a sign of the Persian leopard. An animal that once lived in Kurdistan but fled across borders because of wars and conflicts. He believes that after a long history of war and politics when he can find and photograph the leopard first, the region will become a national park, and bombs will never drop again over the Kurdish mountains.

Reber Dosky, the director, followed Sidik for years on his trips in the mountains. Everybody else in the region is occupied with conflict and politics but he just hides in the mountains every day to find the leopard and other interesting species. He thinks that once the leopard is found, balance will be restored between humans and nature. We wanted this film to look like a feature drama. The scenery was so mythical and the places Sidik took us were if you stepped right into a movie. We also wanted the scope image ratio to show as much of the country's beauty as possible. Normally, the only thing you see from the Kurdish region is war and devastation. We have shot this film on an Arri Amira (Alexa Mini, some parts) and some rehoused Cooke S3 lenses. With this narrative setup, we started almost every scene in a wide-angle shot to observe Sidik in this majestic scenery. We only changed lenses or position when we thought it would add value to the scene. This way of shooting was sometimes quite heavy on the crew with hours of climbing in the mountains, it really forced us to look very closely at everything that was happening. We couldn't 'crash zoom' on everything that occurred and I think that really helped us develop a carefully chosen language for this film.

The film premiered on IDFA 2019 and won the award for best Dutch documentary. After that, we received a nomination for the IMAGO international cinematography awards, which for me personally was a big honor. Now the selection for Camerimage is a dream come true.

This film does not just tell Sidik's story. In the film, we see him as a guide through the mountains. He shows us his places but he also meets new people with a story. Through him, the film tells the story of the Kurds

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One of the scenes that means a lot to me is of a large group of women, all dressed in black, coming to an anonymous graveyard where hundreds of young men are buried after one of the attacks of Sadam Hussein on the Kurdish people. They mourn for their husbands, brothers, and sons that were killed just because they were Kurds. The older woman on the right of the frame tells us that she had a dream about her late brother being buried underneath a specific tree in that graveyard. Even though all graves are unnamed, she has a strong feeling that her brother is in that specific grave. Since that dream, she comes back every week to sing for her brother. The only thing Sidik does in this scene is to listen to the songs. He does that in a very serene and patient way, almost like a prophet.

On top of that, right before everyone leaves the site, a storm comes up and the wind starts moving the trees and the black dresses. Leaving everybody silent.

During the film, Sidik tries to capture the glances of the leopard by placing hidden camera traps in the mountains. Sometimes he places dead animals in front of the lens to lure the animals. Some of these exciting night shots are edited in the film. It gives a stunning view of all the wildlife that is present in the Kurdish part of Iraq. In this short scene, we see how Sidik picks up a born dead calf at a local farm to use as bait for the leopard. It's a bit of a graphic scene but also a very subtle way to show life and death.

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Throughout the film, we lavishly used all the seasons of the year to show the different looks the countryside of Kurdistan can have. We started the shoot in the rainy fall and went from knee-deep snow towards screensaver-like spring hills and bone dry 45 degrees Celsius summer heat. It truly is one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited in my life. The beauty of these mountains was important to show because it has so many contrasts. Not only the literal contrasts of the seasons but also the contrasts of beautiful mountains on the outside and harsh battles fought from within these mountains. Kurds have always used their mountains for shelter when attacked, and they still do. An important phrase that came up in the film is: 'the mountains are the Kurds' only friends'. That's why it was so important to Reber to show these mountains in full glory.

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During this shooting period, we got tested by the elements. From unpredictable weather between the mountains to the political games you have to cope with while shooting in this kind of environment. But the solution was always in the story. As long as the crew, and especially the director lives and breathes it (and Reber is a master at that) you always know what to do, even when things don't go as planned. In this scene, we were filming Ali, an old man who has been blind for the largest part of his life. We wanted to film him near a beautiful water spring that we had seen. But during the long drive into the mountains a thick fog came up and we couldn't go any further. At first, we were discouraged about it but when we looked around and saw the place where we stopped had become a field of silhouettes of dark trees that were barely visible through the mist. We realized that it would be very interesting to just ask Ali to sit down and tell his story on that spot with poor visibility. There we were, listening to this old, wise man telling about his memories and how his family fled for the gas attacks of Sadam Hussein, covering everything in white clouds.

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Technically I tried to keep things as simple as possible. Before we started this shoot I knew we were going to be shooting in the wild. Shooting in the mountains meant a lot of hiking, sometimes for 3 hours or more just to get to altitude. We had help from a horse or donkey to carry equipment, but on some trips, we had to go to places that were too steep for horses and donkeys. Which meant we had to carry everything ourselves.

On the first trip (we went on trips of 10 to 14 days each season) we carried everything by hand. Something that really challenges you when you're up a slope above the clouds.

So we decided we had to upgrade our gear. With a lot of help from Edwin Verstegen and talks with Dick Harrewijn on shooting in nature, I pimped my gear with special backpacks that could fit an Amira body and another one for the Cooke S3 set + Zeiss 70-200mm Zoom (my wildlife lens). Because of the rockiness in the mountains, I wanted to try a new kind of tripod system from the Sachtler Flowtech series. They are very lightweight but solid as well. With help from Edwin and his team really made me feel comfortable to go on the plane without any worries. Once you land, you really are a long way from home.

The reason I wanted to shoot this film on Arri was not only because of its proven look (It was reason number one though!) but also the confidence I have in these cameras. I don't want to be shooting in 1.5 meters of snow with a plastic camera while my eyepiece is falling off. The technical part of this job should be second nature, something you don't have to think about during shooting. As soon as technology gets in your way, something is wrong. So I went for the Amira (and one season on the Mini) because I knew they wouldn't let me down in winter or summer.

But the image quality of this camera was the first reason. We wanted this film to be cinematic, like a western sometimes. I knew what I wanted to do in color grading and after a lot of testing the Amira with the natural look of the Cooke S3 lenses turned out to be the best combination. It's soft and it’s look is not too digital. I think, in a film that is so much about nature, that organic feel is important to me.

Another important thing was shooting with natural light. I love to shoot in natural light conditions. I knew it was impossible to take a lot of lights with me, so it felt liberating to just skip it completely. It can feel good to know that you have restrictions. These are then things I don't need to think about. A big number of scenes would be Exterior /Day so I didn't need much light anyway but the natural, filmic look we were going for also asked for a natural approach in lighting.

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In the scene where Sidik is collecting a dead calf, the stable we shot was pitch dark without windows. I asked the farmer (with hands and feet communication) if there was a way to get more light in. So we opened a door and the farmer started removing bags of hay that he uses as insulation. As if he knew, he only removed three bags. Creating a small, window-like, hole in the wall which created a small puddle of soft light on the dead calf. It immediately looked like a painting. If we would have artificially lit the scene from the inside, it definitely wouldn't look as intimate as it does know. As if the farmer painted the light for his own shot.

For some exterior scenes, we picked the best time of day (when the sun was lower and opposite of the camera) but most things couldn't be planned, unfortunately. We tried to play with that, seeking shadow under trees while shooting at noon to break the light (and the heat). But the mountain view was so deep and layered that during any time of day there was an interesting contrast or play of light.

Director: Reber Dosky

Editor: Stefan Kamp

Sound Design: Tom Jansen

Sound Recordist: Taco Drijfhout

Producer: Jos de Putter

Colorist: Martin Klein at Filmmore

Gear: Het Raam Digital Cinema