First Contact (1983 film)
"First Contact" is the first documentary in what later became known as "The Highland Trilogy". The other two films are "Joe Leahy's Neighbours" (1989) and "Black Harvest" (1992). These three films, between them, have won some thirty major awards, included each film winning both the Grand Prix at the Festival Cinéma du Réel in Paris and AFI Award for Best Documentary.
List of Dutch documentary films
The first known Dutch documentary was made in 1916 by Johann Vierboom. The film "Storm en noodweer in Nederland" shows the 1916 flood disaster at the coasts of the Zuiderzee. An other documentary film of this era is "Holland Neutraal: De leger- en vlootfilm" (1917) by Willy Mullens. One of the most famous Dutch documentary film directors is Joris Ivens. Ivens started making his own films in 1928. The first was an avant-garde look at a Rotterdam bridge, "The Bridge" ("De brug", 1928). His later films were more realistic, socially concerned and polemical.
"The Spanish Earth" (1937) is one of his most famous films. In order to make internationally oriented documentaries, Ivens travelled to countries such as the Soviet Union, Spain, China, Australia and the United States.