1996
Johan van der Keuken
1997
Johan van der Keuken
In this four-hour epic documentary maker Johan van der Keuken portrays his home town of Amsterdam and the people who live there. During a journey through a labyrinth his camera serenely glides along the city's canals, down its streets and across its squares. On the way he encounters old and new Amsterdamers, a variety of inhabitants from all four corners of the world, on "a voyage around the world in his own home town". The hero of AMSTERDAM GLOBAL VILLAGE is Khalid, a young Moroccan moped courier who takes the viewer along as he races around town with his precious cargo of films and photographs. But just as Amsterdam is a global village, the film is also largely global, as Johan van der Keuken follows several trails back to their roots far from the city. He follows the Chechen businessman Borz-Ali back to Grozny at war. He accompanies Roberto back to his native village in Bolivia to see the mother who had given him up for dead. A Jewish woman and her son visit the mansion where she found her son after the war and three years of fearful separation.
The film is also a musical journey, from DJ 100% Isis and her House music to a Ghanian funeral party to Riccardo Chailly in the Concertgebouw. Johan van der Keuken has pieced together major global issues with very personal tales into a beautiful and colourful patchwork quilt. A loving portrait of the city of Amsterdam which has for centuries been a refuge for so many while maintaining its village charm.
About the film
In Johan van der Keuken's oeuvre we seldom encounter Amsterdam, even though the cineaste has spent most of his life there. Johan van der Keuken has travelled through the whole world with his camera. Only once did his home town play a prominent role, i.e. in Even Stilte (Amsterdam, a City's Face, 1963). There are a number of reasons why he chose his home town as a subject after thirty years.
"The idea first came to me when I looked out of my window one morning, seeing how beautiful the morning light reflected in the water and on the boat located directly opposite my house in the canal. I wanted to do something with this. Secondly, I went and cycled in neighbourhoods where I normally don't go and I realized that most people on the street were not white. I had the feeling I had entered a different city, another country. I realized that one is ready to go along any path, take any side street when one is on vacation, but one is less likely to deviate from one's routine in one's home town."
At first glance, AMSTERDAM GLOBAL VILLAGE is about the city of Amsterdam as a melting pot where representatives of different cultures live next to each other. We travel through the town for four hours, from the centre to the suburbs and further beyond. On the road, we meet many citizens. We linger with some of the people or we return to them, others fade back into the crowd very quickly. The film isn't structured around the protagonists and their life stories, but, typically for Van der Keuken, is based on an idea.
245 min., 35mm, 1:1.37, Color
Produktion: Pieter van Huystee Film & TV.
Kamera: Johan van der Keuken.
geluid : Noshka van der Lely.
Muziek: Dionys Breukers.
montage : Barbara Hin, Johan van der Keuken.
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