Bert Haanstra

Bert Haanstra
Haanstra in 1989
Born	Albert Haanstra (1916-05-31)31 May 1916 Holten, Netherlands
Died	23 October 1997(1997-10-23) (aged 81) Hilversum, Netherlands
Occupation	Photographer, cameraman, film director
Years active	1948–1988 (film director)
Spouse(s)	Nita Wijtmans
Children	Rimko and Jurre
Website	www.berthaanstra.nl

Albert 'Bert' Haanstra (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɑlbərt bɛrt ˈɦaːnstraː]; 31 May 1916 – 23 October 1997) was a Dutch film director of films and documentaries. His documentary Glass (1958) won the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject in 1959. His feature film Fanfare (1958) was the most visited Dutch film at the time, and has since only been surpassed by Turkish Delight (1973).

Early life

Albert Haanstra was born on 31 May 1916 in Espelo, a small village near Holten, in the Netherlands. His father was Folkert Haanstra, a schoolteacher, and his mother Jansje Schuiveling. Haanstra grew up in the village of Goor. Haanstra's father retired early as a schoolteacher and started his life long dream of becoming a painter. Haanstra himself, after realizing teaching didn't interest him, became a painter himself and started experimenting with photography. ^[1]

Career

Haanstra receives his Academy Award for Glass from Ambassador Philip Young in 1959

Haanstra gives instructions on the film set of De Zaak M.P. in 1960

Haanstra became a professional Dutch documentary film maker in 1947. He won international acclaim with his short documentary Spiegel van Holland / Mirror of Holland, for which he received the Grand Prix du court métrage at the Cannes-festival of 1951. During the fifties he made six films for Shell, among others The Rival World (1955) on insects spreading deadly diseases and how to fight them. In 1958 his documentary Glass, a filming improvisation made in a glass factory, won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject.^[2][3]

He directed several fiction films. Fanfare, a comedy situated in a small Dutch village, is still the Netherlands' second most popular film ever (measured at the box office), only surpassed by Paul Verhoevens Turkish Delight. Abroad however, Fanfare was hardly noticed, but it was entered into the 1959 Cannes Film Festival^[4] and the 1st Moscow International Film Festival.^[5]

In several shorts and in long documentaries like Alleman / The Human Dutch and Stem van het water / The Voice of the Water Haansta reflected on The Netherlands and its inhabitants. All these films made him one of the most popular filmmakers in the history of Dutch cinema. The documentary Alleman was seen in the cinema by 20 percent of the total Dutch population. In the seventies and eighties Haanstra addressed a new subject. He made several films about animals. In the long documentary Bij de beesten af / Ape and Super-Ape (1973), for which he collaborated with Frans de Waal and Jane Goodall, among others, he compared the behavior of animals and human beings. In total Haanstra received close to a hundred awards.

Haanstra was Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau.

Death

Haanstra died on 23 October 1997 at the age of 81 in a nursing home in the town of Hilversum in the Netherlands. He died of Alzheimer's disease.^[1]

Filmography

References

Further reading

• Jo Daems, Teder testament, de films van Bert Haanstra (1996)
• Hans Schoots, Bert Haanstra - Filmer van Nederland (2009)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bert Haanstra.

• (Dutch) Bert Haanstra (official website)
• Bert Haanstra at the Internet Movie Database
• Bert Haanstra at AllMovie