Cinema for me is…
Job in 23 frames
1. Describe yourself in ten words.
Documentary filmmaker/sociologist with a love for the power of storytelling.
2. Your best quality? Your worst habit?
Best quality: I’m not afraid to try new things.
Worst habit: Among other bad habits, I tend to micro-manage when I’m cooking with others.
3. Your dream job?
Documentary filmmaker and producer/maker of cultural programmes.
4. What do you like most about your country?
You’re always close to your friends and family, because it’s tiny.
5. Your favorite dish in your country?
Dutch colonial history was definitely not worth it, but I love the fact that there is Indonesian food on every street corner in The Netherlands.
6. Which word or phrase in your native language do you like the most and what does it mean?
I like the ease with which you can make up your own words such as fliepetje, floepie, pliepeltje, all meaning really nothing, but very useful for when you forget the actual word for something.
7. What European capital have you visited lately?
I visited my girlfriend’s grandma in Budapest.
8. Other than your own, which European country would you love to live in?
Dreaming of my own little garden in Southern Hungary.
9. What does Europe mean to you? 3 values.
Collaboration, responsibility, difference.
10. What film made you fall in love with cinema?
Pina by Wim Wenders (2011, DE).
11. Your favorite film theatre? What do you like about it?
I really like De Balie, a documentary cinema where they do a lot of interviews with filmmakers and make programmes about films.
12. Who is your movie hero?
Basically Tilda Swinton in every role she plays.
13. Which movie director would you like to be?
I love the fact that I’m just starting my film career and everything is still possible, so maybe I wouldn’t even switch?
14. Briefly describe your favorite scene.
The chapter called ‘Twins’ from Coffee and Cigarettes by Jim Jarmusch (2003, US). Although my brother and I are not twins, I can completely relate to the energy of the siblings.
15. What are the 3 best European films you have seen in the last year?
Feast (Tim Leyendekker, 2021, CZ)
Honeyland (Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir Stefanov, 2019, MK)
Tout va bien (Jean Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Gorin, 1972, FR)
16. Which film character do you most identify with?
Hunter from Paris, Texas by Wim Wenders (1984, DE).
17. Your favorite soundtrack or song?
My favourite soundtrack is definitely the one for Only Lovers Left Alive by Jim Jarmusch (2013, EU).
18. If you had to live in a movie, which one would you like it to be?
I could live in every house of an Almodóvar film.
19. Your life becomes a bio-pic. Who plays the role of you?
I’m really curious how I will grow old, I hope to be as energetic and creative as Agnes Varda, so she can play my role.
20. Which talent would you most like to have?
I would love to be a very good interviewer.
21. What is your most treasured possession?
The knowledge that I have loving people around me.
22. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Making a short documentary that is now being screened at human rights film festivals.
23. What is your motto?
I wish I had one…