How would you describe that voice?
"At that time I was very much into truthfulness, authenticity, getting close and intimacy. There was a certain norm that was very much about storytelling, while I was obsessively observant."
65 Years of the Film Academy: Niels van Koevorden
The Film Academy turns 65 this year! To celebrate this landmark anniversary, Eye Filmmuseum has been given access to every graduation film ever made, right from the very start back in 1958 – some of these films haven’t been screened since then. The films will be incorporated into the Eye collection over the next few years, and a selection of them can be seen on the Eye Film Player. We spoke to some of the makers. Niels van Koevorden graduated in 2010 with his film Lukomir Six Months Off.
By Michael Oudman23 January 2025
What has the Film Academy meant to you?
"That I found my voice as a creator, and was supported by a good network of teachers and guest lecturers. People who really work in the industry."
© Miriam Guttman
Were the images more important to you than the story?
"To me, it was about the moment. I like to make films where the story is not told by the editing, but by the moment in front of the camera. I would prefer to direct as little as possible, but I have become less rigid in that respect over the years. At the Film Academy I did encounter the fact that when you want something to happen, or to develop in front of the camera, that it does not necessarily lend itself to exercises that are planned on a certain day from two to four."
Direction or cinematography?
"If I really have to choose: cinematography, because it's even more about the moment. I'm also making a long documentary now – Hoe lang nog – which is about five people who are in a process of life-extending treatment, and in that I actually only film the conversations they have with their attending physician, and the process of their deathbed and the death itself, so it's actually two shots that I shoot myself. I also sometimes shoot for others, and that feels very liberating because I only have to relate to what's happening in front of the lens, have to feel something about it and anticipate it. That's the freedom of cinematography. Less head, more gut, even more intuition."
Big stories or small stories?
"I think I like to tell big themes in small ways. Like when I tell something about the fear of death in a very small and demarcated way in an oncologist's office."
Documentary or feature film?
"The most fun project I've done in the past two years was a hybrid project that has yet to be released. I shot that film, Meneer L, for Thomas Stokmans and in it a non-actor – a retired dentist – plays an Asian tourist who ends up in that asylum seekers' center on a cruise ship near the Coentunnel. We shot there with all the refugees and employees of the COA, and that's the ultimate. To have a guiding hand in reality. But in practical terms, the two are at odds with each other. Documentary gets in the way of everything in terms of planning, but when I'm shooting a feature film, I can't keep my mind on the documentary that I have to shoot myself."
still Winterslaap in Lukomir (Niels van Koevorden, NL 2010)
Watch online
Watch Lukomir Six Months Off for free on the Eye Film Player.