still Beppie (Johan van der Keuken, NL 1965)

Johan van der Keuken: Blind kind & Beppie

Before going on to tackle more political and socially critical themes, in the 1960s Johan van der Keuken made a number of intimate 16mm film portraits. Among these are two classic shorts: Blind kind and the disarming portrait of Amsterdam street kid Beppie.

Johan van der Keuken is known for his improvisational style, making optimum use of the light 16mm cameras that were introduced in the early 1960s. Eye is screening two of his early films.

Programme

Blind kind (1964, 27', 16mm, English subtitles)
In Blind kind, Van der Keuken observes how sightless children discover the world and with great dedication train their senses of touch and hearing. By filming them up close, he shows us how these children experience the world. Their perception of reality may differ from ours, but this doesn’t make their experience any less intense.
Beppie (1965, 38', 16mm, no subtitles)
A poignant, disarming TV portrait of ten-year-old Beppie (Klaassen) from Amsterdam, who lived next door to Johan van der Keuken. We see Beppie playing on the street, in class at school, eating chips at the Albert Cuyp market, watching Santa’s arrival and at a Salvation Army Christmas celebration. Along the way, Beppie reveals her vision of love, life and death. Beppie tells us about her family (eight sisters) and her adventures. She represents the lives and everyday concerns of an average young Amsterdammer from a less-than-affluent background.

At the same time, Beppie is a disarming, cheerful girl who refuses to be intimidated by a precarious existence. Johan van der Keuken puts this across convincingly using a free, observational style of filming.

Beppie became an instant classic after screening on TV in the sixties and is still one of Van der Keuken’s best-loved films today. Restored by Eye.