Sandra den Hamer appointed Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau

Sandra den Hamer, who is leaving Eye Filmmuseum having served as its director for fifteen years, has been appointed an Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau for her exceptional services to Dutch cultural heritage. Director-General of Culture and Media, Barbera Wolfensberger, and deputy mayor of Amsterdam, Touria Meliani, jointly bestowed this royal honour upon her on 7 February 2023 during her farewell ceremony in Eye Filmmuseum.

By Eye Editors07 February 2023

Under Den Hamer’s inspirational leadership, during the past fifteen years an iconic, popular museum has flourished, welcoming to all. Internationally leading digitisation and restoration of the museum’s film collection takes place in the likewise newly built collection centre. Den Hamer’s tenure also saw successful mergers with film institutes, and Eye has come to play a pivotal role in Dutch film culture.

Film education & academic chair

Thanks to her vision of what a film museum should be, the programming in the museum’s cinemas does not shy away from current issues. Its exhibitions explore film art at the intersection of cinema and visual art. She successfully argued for greater attention to film education, both in Eye and within the education sector, and the creation of a chair of Film Heritage and Digital Film Culture at the University of Amsterdam.

Dutch cultural climate

Den Hamer skilfully steered Eye Filmmuseum through the Coronavirus crisis, with unfailing devotion to the interests of the museum, its staff, filmmakers and artists. As the director of Eye she has undoubtedly contributed to the wider cultural climate in the Netherlands and will, in view of her supervisory roles, continue to do so in the years ahead.