06 live

An in-memoriam screening, 20 years after Theo van Gogh was murdered, on 2 November 2004. Rainer Hensel, who was Van Gogh’s regular composer, has written a musical score for 06 to be performed live by Hensel himself (sound FX and soprano saxophone), Duco Burgers (piano), Jorinde Gray (violin), Marise Tolman (vocals), Martin de Ruiter (bandoneon) and Jelte van Andel (double bass). The film’s sound will not be muted; as released, the film doesn’t contain any music.

Rainer Hensel on his motivation for setting 06 to live music: “The feature film 06 by Theo van Gogh was actually the only one of Theo’s films I didn’t compose a score for, so this in a way is a completion for me. Playing live music to accompany 06 is the best way for me to commemorate Theo, 20 years after his death!”

About 06

Theo van Gogh decided to make a concentrated film version, using the minimum of resources, of the stage play written and directed by Van Doesburg. The result is an intense record of an erotic meeting by telephone between a man and a woman. He (Wilbert) is a bachelor architect who responds to a 06 (sex chatline) advertisement placed by her (Sarah). They call one another once a week, leading to a stormy relationship based on telephone sex; he wants more, but she clings to her fantasy: a real-life meeting is taboo. Wilbert doesn’t accept this, however.

The response to 06 from film critics – who had previously been liberal in their use of epithets such as “adolescent”, “vulgar” and “disgusting” in relation to Van Gogh – was laudatory. Van Gogh’s seventh film even won the Dutch Film Journalists’ (KNF) award at the Netherlands Film Festival; Ariane Schluter received the Special Jury award.