Netherlands Film Festival
The Netherlands Film Festival (Dutch: Nederlands Film Festival) is an annual film festival, held in September and October of each year in the city of Utrecht.
During the ten-day festival, Dutch film productions and co-productions are exhibited. Besides feature films, the program also consists of short subjects, documentary films, and television productions. On the closing evening of the festival, the Golden Calves are awarded to the best films, directors, and actors.
Together with the Netherlands Film Fund, the festival also recognises box office results of Dutch film productions during the year with the Crystal Film (10,000 visitors of documentary films), Golden Film (100,000 visitors), Platinum Film (400,000 visitors), and Diamond Film (1,000,000 visitors).
== History ==
The Netherlands Film Festival was founded in 1981 by the Dutch film maker Jos Stelling, who called it the Netherlands Film Days (Nederlandse Filmdagen). Initially, the festival was oriented towards film makers only, but it gradually reached a broader audience. The 36th edition of the festival, in 2016, attracted more than 150,000 visitors.
== Canon of Dutch cinema ==
In 2007, the festival presented their Canon of Dutch Cinema, (Canon van de Nederlandse Film), containing sixteen monumental films in Dutch film history. The list included the following films:The Misadventure of a French Gentleman Without Pants at the Zandvoort Beach (Willy Mullens and Alberts Frères, 1905)
A Carmen of the North (Maurits Binger, 1919)
Rain (Joris Ivens, 1929)
The Tars (Jaap Speyer, 1934)
Houen zo! (Herman van der Horst, 1952)
Fanfare (Bert Haanstra, 1958)
Like Two Drops of Water (Fons Rademakers, 1963)
Blind Kind (Johan van der Keuken, 1964)
Ik kom wat later naar Madra (Adriaan Ditvoorst, 1965)
Living (Frans Zwartjes, 1971)
Turkish Delight (Paul Verhoeven, 1973)
Flodder (Dick Maas, 1986)
The Northerners (Alex van Warmerdam, 1992)
The Pocket-knife (Ben Sombogaart, 1992)
Het is een schone dag geweest (Jos de Putter, 1993)
Father and Daughter (Michaël Dudok de Wit, 2000)
== Special guests ==
Since 1992, the festival organisation invites a special guest, usually a respected director or actor in the Dutch film business.1992: Paul Schrader
1993: Krzysztof Zanussi
1994: Rutger Hauer
1995: Nouchka van Brakel
1996: Jan de Hartog
1997: Monique van de Ven
1998: First Floor Features
1999: ?
2000: Heddy Honigmann
2001: Renée Soutendijk
2002: Pieter Verhoeff
2003: Jan Decleir
2004: Jean van de Velde
2005: Jos Stelling
2006: Johanna ter Steege
2007: Burny Bos
2008: Monic Hendrickx
2009: Jack Wouterse
2010: Anneke Blok
2011: Frans van Gestel
2012: Jeroen Willems
2013: Paula van der Oest
2014: Fons Merkies
2016: Willem de Beukelaer
== Awards ==
Besides the Golden Calves the Festival also has its own special awards.Dutch Film Critics award
Award of the city Utrecht
Tuschinski Award (former Cannon City Prize)
Talent & Pro Student Award
NPS Award for best short film
Teen Award
Cinema.nl Film Poster Award (former Skrien Afficheprijs)
Grolsch Film Award
== Opening films ==
1981 The Girl with the Red Hair
1982 De smaak van water
1983 Giovanni
1984 De grens
1985 Pervola, sporen in de sneeuw
1986 The Pointsman
1987 A Month Later
1988 Shadow Man
1989 Blueberry Hill
1990 Vigour
1991 The Province
1992 The Three Best Things in Life
1993 Unknown Time
1994 1000 Roses
1995 Antonia's Line
1996 De nieuwe moeder
1997 Tropic of Emerald
1998 Het 14e kippetje
1999 Under the Palms
2000 Wild Mussels
2001 De grot
2002 Ramses
2003 Phileine Says Sorry
2004 Simon
2005 Life!
2006 Waiter
2007 Duska
2008 In Real Life
2009 Tramontana
2010 Tirza
2011 The Gang of Oss
2012 The Zigzag Kid
2013 The Price of Sugar
2014 Reckless
2015 J. Kessels
2016 De Held
2017 Tulipani, Love, Honour and a Bicycle
2018 Open Seas
2019 Instinct
2020 Buladó
2021 Mijn vader is een vliegtuig
2023 Sweet Dreams
Cinema of the Netherlands
Documentary film of the Netherlands

== External links ==
Official website
Netherlands Film Festival at the Internet Movie Database