Volume 3, Issue 45
WEEKOF 16 NOVEMBER TO 22 NOVEMBER 2006
IT’S ELECTION TIME IT’S ACTION TIME
FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROAST: CHANGING CLIMATE CHANGE PAGE 6 THE POLITICAL PARTIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT PAGE 8 E-VOTE NOTES PAGE 4 / HARTOG, BAKERY-ELECT PAGE 4 / A VOTE FOR SATIRE PAGE 5 CROSSING BORDERING PAGE 11 / FILMS THAT ARE BETTER THAN BAD.THEY ARE GOOD PAGE 24
MAARTEN VAN MAANEN
FE S ST HA IV D AL O IN W SE RT
Inside: Music, Film, Art and Events
FREE EVERY WEDNESDAY
16-22 November 2006
Amsterdam Weekly
ATTACHMENTS Contents: On the cover Jumping on the Gore bandwagon. Illustration by Maarten van Maanen.
Features E-voting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Hartog voted best. . . . . . . . 4 Stemhok.nl . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Windowatch . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Global warming . . . . . . . . . 6 Party policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Going out Short List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Crossing Border . . . . . . . . 11 Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Clubs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Gay & Lesbian . . . . . . . . . . 16 Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Lekker Bezig . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Nacht van de Wansmaak. 24 The Black Dahlia . . . . . . . 25 Film Times. . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Plus The Glutton . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Eefje Wentelteefje . . . . . . 30
Amsterdam Weekly is a free cultural paper distributed every Wednesday in Amsterdam. Paid subscriptions are available on request. For details, write to info@amsterdamweekly.nl. Contents of Amsterdam Weekly are copyright 2006 Amsterdam Weekly BV. All rights reserved. Winner of 3 European Newspaper Awards Amsterdam Weekly BV De Ruyterkade 106, 1011 AB Amsterdam Tel: 020 522 5200 Fax: 020 620 1666 www.amsterdamweekly.nl General info: info@amsterdamweekly.nl Agenda listings: agenda@amsterdamweekly.nl Advertising: sales@amsterdamweekly.nl PUBLISHER Todd Savage EDITOR Steve Korver ASSISTANT EDITOR Kim Renfrew AGENDA EDITOR Steven McCarron FILM EDITOR Julie Phillips PROOFREADER Karina Hof EDITORIAL INTERN Sarah Gehrke ART DIRECTOR Bas Morsch PRODUCTION MANAGER Aquil Copier PRODUCTION DESIGNER Rogier Charles PRODUCTION INTERN Mattijs Arts SALES ASSOCIATES Haitske van Asten, Alexander Gan, Simon Poole, Justin Rink, Carolina Salazar OPERATIONS MANAGER Monique Gruter OPERATIONS ASSISTANT Desislava Pentcheva DISTRIBUTION COORDINATOR Patrick van der Klugt DISTRIBUTION INTERN Chris Tian FINANCIAL ADVISER Kurt Schmidt, Veresis Consulting PRINTER Het Volk Printing ISSN 1872-3268 THIS WEEK’S CONTRIBUTORS Thomas van Aalten, Willem de Blaauw, Anuschka Blommers, Floris Dogterom, Willeke Duyvekam, Matt Groening, André Dryansky, Arnoud Holleman, Luuk van Huët, Nanna Koekoek, Steve Korver, Jeroen de Leijer, Nick Leslie, Steven McCarron, Maarten van Maanen, Michael Martin, Mike Peek, Kim Renfrew, Carolyn Ridsdale, Marinus de Ruiter, Shain Shapiro, Suzanne Schreve, Niels Schumm, Simon Wald-Lasowski and Mark Wedin.
15 POLITICAL VIEWS by Arnoud Holleman
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Amsterdam Weekly
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16-22 November 2006
AROUND TOWN Ctrl Vote Delete
Shit, I wanted black!
Does e-voting get a tick or a cross for democracy?
the later discovery that many old ballot boxes had been sold off to the public, but with a Wi-Fi modem running on Microsoft Windows, this voting system could have seen you waking up the morning after to the CAD (‘Ctrl-Alt-Delete’) as the ruling party. Instead, with 100,000 red pencils reportedly on order and awaiting delivery, one can only imagine that Sinterklaas and his Zwarte Pieten are going to be dishing out voting materials on Dam this weekend. Wij Vertrouwen Stemcomputers Niet’s real headline-grabber last month was to hack a regular Nedap voting computer to play chess, which succeeded in overshadowing their additional claims that leaking radio signals from these machines could not only be read, but they could also be made to record inaccurate votes. As things stand, Nicolai remains satisfied with Nedap’s security. The chess stunt does, however, warn us that computer hardware is only as good as the software running on it. It doesn’t take a computer scientist to see the potential of reprogramming dated ’80s hardware. The Nedap/Groenendaal ES3B machines being used are widely accepted as over the hill, so maybe one day they can be handed over to the Netherlands’ creative public to play chess, stand as art, or perhaps audiences will one day await the world premiere of an ES3B Ensemble at Muziekgebouw. Insertion of additional RAM and sound modules doesn’t take a big stretch of the imagination. As for the realm of voter turnout, it could easily be argued that the best way forward is to lock all the contenders up in the Big Brother house. The election could then climax in a day of X-Factor turns, and in such a tight political climate, is there any fairer way than laying down a vote for whoever nails the most patriotic rendition of ‘Heb Je Even Voor Mij?’ But when it
comes to that issue of democratic trust, there’s no hiding from this computer debate, which is likely to demand more scrutiny year by year.
No fakin’ that bakin’! Hartog lauded for 110 years of quality products. By André Dryansky Wibautstraat is conceivably the dreariest street in Amsterdam. Especially when you’re out on your bike, with the wind and rain seeping through your pants and buffeting you about. But Dad wants ‘that good Dutch bread’ for a special dinner. Hartog’s Volkoren Bakkerij en Maalderij sits on the corner of Ruyschstraat and Wibautstraat. It was cho-
CAROLYN RIDSDALE
‘Everything can be manipulated.’ While this might sound like the argument of one of the growing number of campaigners who are against the use of computers in elections, it is, in fact, the blunt statement found on the website of Nedap. This voting computer manufacturer is behind 90% of the machines that will be used in Wednesday’s elections. Nedap do follow the statement up with a swift defence of their security systems, however, and they’ve fought tooth-and-nail to ensure their systems play a full part in the upcoming electoral contest. But their words still emphasise democracy’s fragility in modern times. Across the world, barely an election goes by where the results aren’t contested or protested. Look no further than self-proclaimed ‘greatest democracy in the world’—the United States—where voting computers were at the heart of huge controversies in the wake of the 2000 and 2004 elections, with regular occurrences of malfunctioning equipment and accusations of large-scale tampering. Unfortunately, it’s typically left to small volunteer groups like Black Box Voting—stars of recent controversial documentary Hacking Democracy—to dig the dirt and question the accuracy of computer-based voting. Until recently, Amsterdam was a bastion of paper balloting, and the ensuing change to electronic voting is drawing opposition. Campaigners Wij Vertrouwen Stemcomputers Niet [‘we don’t trust voting computers’] say ‘there has to be a voter-verified paper copy of every vote cast. And these paper votes need to be regularly counted.’ As it stands at the moment, in districts using computers the pressure group’s demands aren’t being met. Since forming, they’ve been labelled ‘part of an international network that spreads all kind of conspiracy theories concerning our voting machines,’ by Jan Groenendaal, the owner of Nedap, who then went on to blurt out on the website of the German Nedap importer that ‘their exact motivation is beyond me. They’re making trouble for trouble’s sake.’ Through riling executives and hassling politicians, Wij Vertrouwen Stemcomputers Niet have made a huge difference in a short amount of time. On 30 October, Atzo Nicolai, Minister for Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties [Internal Affairs] announced that the swanky NewVote computers made by SDU, which were to be used throughout Amsterdam’s voting districts, were being banned from these elections because they leak enough signal to be snooped upon—a criminal offence— although questions have also been asked about further tampering vulnerabilities. This could be viewed as a reprieve for Amsterdam, despite prohibitive costs and
CAROLYN RIDSDALE
By Steven McCarron
sen by Stichting Retail as the best bakery and best independent store in the Netherlands in 2005 and 2006, respectively, I have not tried all the bakeries in the Netherlands, but my folks back home in Paris always ask me not to forget ‘that good Dutch bread’ when I pay them a visit. Fred Tiggelman, 38, Hartog’s owner, explains why people keep coming back: ‘I am not saying that my bread is the best, but it’s a kind of bread that you cannot find anywhere else. What is special about it is that it is produced in a very honest way. We never make any concessions. It has always been very simple.’ One of the old photographs that decorate the outside of the building says it all. It’s a picture of one of Hartog’s early 20thcentury advertising slogans: ‘Eigen Molen. Vegetarisch Bakkerij’ [’Own mill. Vegetarian bakery’]. Indeed, at Hartog they still do everything themselves, from the milling—using Dutch wholewheat only—to the selling, and the bakery still doesn’t use animal fats, except for a little butter in the koekje dough. ‘We don’t make white bread,’ says 83year-old Willem Hartog, the only family member still working at the bakery. ‘In white bread they take out the bran, which is specifically where the nutrients that people need are. It’s castrated food!’ Tiggelman took over in 1997, and subsequently quadrupled turnover. His dedication, hard work and skill have practically made him a member of the family. Hartog will have been a baker for seven decades years next year. He is founder Gerrit Hartog’s second cousin; both men were born in the same West Friesland village of Aartswoud. Gerrit might have established the business, but really, it all starts with a certain Aagje Dekker and her ‘peculiar’ home-baked bread. In her day—the late 19th century—everybody baked their own bread. But Dekker refused to use animal fats, so her bread was different and it quickly became the talk of Aartswoud. People suggested that she escape the dire poverty of West Friesland and go to the big city with her bread. So she teamed up with Gerrit, then a small businessman who never had children, and started the bakery just eight doors away from its current premises at Ruyschstraat 56. ‘We are not selling a dead “product”’, stresses Hartog. ‘If you’re working in a steel plant, it’s completely different—it’s dead matter. This is live matter.’ His comments allude to the only time in his life when he didn’t work as a baker: two years of forced labour at a steel mill in Nazi Germany. Only a thin pinewood door separates the store from the bakery proper; you can hear, see and smell the action. Outside, the queue of customers keeps getting longer and longer. Even in foul weather. Nothing much has changed since 1901,
Volkoren for the folks!
Amsterdam Weekly
16-22 November 2006
when a coal-powered machine replaced manual kneading. The grain is brought in every Wednesday in jute sacks: five tons of it is needed every week. It’s ground in the basement, kneaded by machine, moulded by hand, left to rise and then baked. The whole process takes about four hours. Until the early 1980s, Hartog only sold two kinds of breads; now they sell eight. The original volkoren is their most popular, and it’s cheap, too, at €1.70 for a whole loaf, which will last five days. ‘Hartog is simple—all levels of society are welcome, everybody can come inside,’ Tiggelman says, explaining why he thinks his company won so prestigious an award. Out on the street, Ali has just bought a loaf. I ask him what he likes about the bakery. ‘The bread is good and strong,’ he says.
A vote for satire Website kicks politicians right where the sun don’t shine. By Luuk van Huët Laughing at Dutch politics has proven much easier than laughing with Dutch politicos, the most prominent of who has actually spoken out against satire itself. And while the zany antics of right-wing loonies like ‘Gekke’ Geert Wilders usually cause a few chuckles, politicians who proactively try to be funny usually reap moans.
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CAROLYN RIDSDALE
It’s ok to laugh—if only to stop from crying.
Proving that skewering the ruling class can have hilarious results is Stemhok.nl, a website that has mocked Dutch politics since 2002 by mocking the political news, showcasing parody campaign posters, publishing their own version of the Stemwijzer, and recently expanding into spoof films and political ring tones. Explaining how to humorously kick the Achilles heel of the body politic is Michiel Hulshof, the website’s editor. Hulshof starts by speaking about the origins of Stemhok.nl: ‘In 2002, Pieter van der Straaten was studying journalism at the Universiteit van Amsterdam, when Pim Fortuyn announced that he would enter politics. He gathered some friends and they wondered how they could attend the press conference. So they decided to create their own website and applied for press accreditation. They attended the famous “At Your Service”
Windowatch
Eerste Helmersstraat 245 II
Some parties get all the window space.
WILLEKE DUYVEKAM
By Suzanne Schreve
press conference, and it grew from there. Now we gather around every week, with a bottle of wine as an attendance fee, to talk about politics and think up funny stories.’ Traditional media outlets also have trouble distinguishing satire from reality, as Hulshof attests: ‘Recently, De Volkskrant ran a huge article on the amount of mud-slinging in the campaign, citing as an example a campaign spoof we made as the real thing. In the film, we present Martha as a hard-working woman who pulled herself up by her bootstraps, and Achmed el B, a Moroccan youth whose current residence was a police cell. Then [we] introduced Wouter Bos as the man who wanted to take Martha’s hard-earned money and give it to Achmed. The fact that they didn’t understand made me wonder if they had lost their marbles. ‘It just shows how everything has become possible in politics. It’s funny to
‘We should never have supported Israel. It is detrimental to humanity to sustain this war any longer,’ says Nicolai. While he recounts the deaths in the Gaza Strip still being splashed across the news, his voice takes on a steady tone. But the words accelerate and move with his pacing up and down the living room. Nicolai feels involved, but somewhat powerless—peace seems a far-fetched ideal. ‘The biggest problem is politics itself. We’re being told what to do, we’re no longer being informed. And they tell us to look around and identify the differences, instead of finding a common ground. People often confuse politics with culture. Politics is global and should be universal, but politics has cultivated itself into being a culture. It has also become a binary institution.’ Nicolai’s opinion is supported by many political and socio-cultural studies on the use of binary strategy incorporating fear tactics as a mechanism for control. They have shown how fear can be an effective medium through which politicians dismantle unity and create confrontational collectives. They also found the media
be taken seriously for once, but it’s more satisfying if you get your point across. In the beginning, our visitors chided us for being “Fortuynistas”, as well as calling us “PvdA-scum”, but we don’t get many responses like those anymore. We actually try to be an equal opportunity offender, so that we’ll make up for it when we haven’t bashed a party for while.’ The Stemhokkers recently published a self-help guide for power-hungry aspiring politicians entitled Hoe Word Ik Politicus? Hulshof explains its origins: ‘We played with the idea for a long time and were set to publish it before the elections in May, but then the government fell. We actually locked ourselves into an office with a supply of grub, coffee and beer for three consecutive weekends to get the job done. The most successful part is the Third Reich Association Game, in which we teach you to effectively compare your political opponent to Hitler’s Nazi Germany.’ Hulshof disapproves of jolly politicians who wish to appease the masses, stating: ‘In this way, politicians don’t get around to explaining their points of view, so we have to do that for them. We were inspired by magazines like the Onion, Private Eye and Le Canard Enchainé, of which there was no equivalent in the Netherlands.’ What will the future bring Stemhok.nl? Hulshof exclaims: ‘We want to continue on our set course and maybe add some non-political content to keep the site lively between elections. Mind you, we started out with a little grant money, but we all work for zilch.’ www.stemhok.nl
playing a key role in the construction of fear to increase the visibility of certain social aspects. So how do we discern what’s reality based on the hypothesis that whoever appropriates our fears will be the one who defines the social agenda?’ ‘You have to ignore most of the [media’s] propaganda,’ says Nicolai. Every day we hear, watch and read about problems with Muslims. Because of this, people collectively feel more negative about Muslim society. You have to be able to look at all sides of the story. The party in the Netherlands that stands strongest towards an impartial socio-political strategy is the SP. Part of their foreign policy is for the Netherlands to step out of NATO. NATO would continue to exist but with amended responsibility and authority.’ But it remains to be seen how vulnerable we really have become to political innuendo when it is time to cast our votes. ‘I believe people are aware enough to make an independent decision. That’s why I promote the SP. I still think a straightforward party poster is enough to trigger independent thinking.’
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Amsterdam Weekly
FINAL WARNING:
FIX GLOBAL WARMING WHAT’S GOING ON? AND WHAT’S NL DOING ABOUT IT? THERE ARE NOT A LOT OF OPTIONS... ACTUALLY IT’S A MATHS THING: TALK - ACTION = 0 BY FLORIS DOGTEROM, ILLUSTRATION BY MAARTEN VAN MAANEN
16-22 November 2006
16-22 November 2006
hen Rolf Roos went for a walk the other day near Rhenen, he saw lambs. In November. ‘Now, that may sound like just an anecdote,’ says Roos, ‘but nature is definitely confused. The growing seasons are longer, so phenomena that are normally happening once a year are now happening twice. The rising temperature is, in itself, not all that wrong, but we only see the part of nature that can cope with it. But there’s also a part that doesn’t cope and is becoming extinct. Also, new species appear. One out of twenty lichens in the Netherlands is tropical by nature.’ Roos is a biologist who works for Stichting Natuurmedia, which works on media projects with, and for, nature organisations. The foundation created the Opgewarmd Nederland website (www.opgewarmdnederland.nl), in order to make the effects of global warming visible to the general public. Global warming. It is the main issue of environmental debate worldwide—even before Gore and his An Inconvenient Truth. Global warming is the result of the burning of fossil fuels: oil, coal and gas. During the process, carbon dioxide (CO2) is released into the atmosphere. CO2 is a basal substance in nature and is normally absorbed by trees and plants. ‘There wouldn’t be a problem if trees were able to process all the CO2 that is being released,’ Roos says. ‘But they can’t. We produce simply too much.’ The excess CO2 turns the atmosphere into a kind of blanket that covers the earth. The blanket increasingly prevents the earth from throwing out the heat it receives from the sun, causing the warmth to stay in the atmosphere, which acts as a sort of greenhouse that warms up the earth: the greenhouse effect. Roos: ‘Many people quite like it. They think it’s nice to do a terrasje in November. But then they realise that the old-fashioned winter has gone to the dogs. And I, as a biologist, want to know what’s happening.’ Roos says that every organism is able to cope with variations, but those variations shouldn’t come about too fast. He uses the term ‘climate stress’ to describe the effects of global warming on the planet’s climate. ‘Nature’s resilience is very big. But now we have reached a point where the natural system can’t process all the CO2 and other greenhouse gases anymore. The globe is warming up and a mind-boggling number of animal and plant species are becoming extinct at an unbelievably high pace. That’s very bad, because nature needs biodiversity to keep its resilience. But we keep on flying to Turkey for twenty-nine euro, while at the same time, kerosene is very polluting. The price of kerosene is being kept low in an artificial manner. The economic interests are high. But we will pay a much higher price in the end if we don’t start acting now. Plane tickets should cost much more.’
Amsterdam Weekly
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One century and counting A higher price for airline tickets is only a part of the solution. Scientists all over the world are doing research and are coming up with a multitude of recommendations. Physicist and economist Bob van der Zwaan is a researcher with ECN, the energy research centre of the Netherlands, who seeks solutions to economy and energy issues. The main question he is trying to answer is how the world will be
MANY PEOPLE LIKE SUMMER DAYS OF 30 DEGREES AND OVER AND THEY THINK IT’S GREAT TO DO A TERRACE IN NOVEMBER. BUT THEY’D STOP SMILING ONCE THEY REALISED THE TRUE EFFECTS THAT CLIMATE CHANGE COULD HAVE ON THEIR LIVES.
able to change its energy system into a non-polluting one. Because it is beyond question that that will have to happen—if we intend to leave our children a liveable planet, that is. Van der Zwaan says: ‘Global warming has many different consequences. Some areas receive less rain, causing desertification. Ironically, in other areas much more rain falls. In the Netherlands, the most notable consequence will be the rise in sea level. As a result of the melting ice masses in Greenland and Antarctica, this century the sea level will rise by one metre. This means the Netherlands will have to raise the dykes significantly if we want to keep our feet dry. In Amsterdam, it may seem that we don’t have to worry too much, since the city is one or two metres above NAP or Nieuw Amsterdams Peil, which is more or less the average sea level. But the tidal movements may cause one or two metres’ difference, so the situation is getting more dangerous. In the coming three hundred years, if all the ice in Greenland and Antarctica should melt, the sea level might rise by ten metres. In other words: this century we will be more or less safe. But after that it will all be over.’ CO2: capture it, store it Today, the CO2 level in the atmosphere is 50% higher than it was at the start of the industrial revolution in the 19th century. If factories, cars, aeroplanes and whatnot keep on belching greenhouse gases at an increasing rate, the CO2 level will triple or quadruple pre-industrial revolution levels in one or two century’s time. Van der Zwaan says: ‘Doubling the pre-industrial level would correspond with a global temperature rise of two to three degrees Celsius. But locally, it could mean five to six degrees. It is imperative that we don’t exceed that double value. If not, the consequences will be incalculable.’ So, if we endanger our very existence by pumping up those CO2 levels in the atmosphere, the solution seems to be simple: cut it out. But that’s easier said than done in times of an ever-increasing world population and exploding economies in India and China. Can we do without fossil fuels? ‘We will have to,’ says Van der Zwaan. ‘While cutting down on burning fossil fuels, at the same time we have to look for solutions that tackle the CO2 waste problem, as well as finding alternative energy sources.’ As to the excess CO2: a technology named Carbon Capture and Storage (CSS) has been developed. It does exactly what it suggests: CO2 is captured
at, say, energy plants that burn fossil fuels. After, it is stored, preferably deep down in the earth, like in empty gas fields. Science fiction? Van der Zwaan says not: ‘It is a realistic option; the technologies to carry this out do already exist. However, they are expensive. The CO2 gas needs to be liquefied first, after which it has to be injected into the ground. It can be dissolved in water or in porous rock. As a matter of fact, in the Netherlands, we are testing this scenario at the North Sea, in an old gas field.’ Van der Zwaan admits that, although CO2 is a natural product, possible negative side effects of the CSS method need to be carefully analysed. ‘We don’t want a situation like we have with nuclear waste. The negative effects of nuclear energy have been underestimated too long. A possible effect of storing CO2 in underground water layers might be that the water turns acid.’ Nuclear power? Yes please! Van der Zwaan takes the quite controversial stand that nuclear energy needs to be kept in the mix of possible answers for solving the global warming issue. ‘I say that as a scientist,’ Van der Zwaan explains. ‘Nuclear energy doesn’t have CO2 as a by-product. Of course, nuclear waste and the proliferation of nuclear technology are huge problems. But if the Netherlands doesn’t invest on a large scale in CSS, wind energy and saving on fossil fuels, we will have to consider deploying nuclear energy.’ Whereas fossil fuels will be exhausted one day or another, wind energy is a socalled ‘reusable energy’ source—like solar, hydropower and tidal movement energy—that doesn’t generate any nasty waste. Van der Zwaan explains: ‘The Netherlands will have to focus on wind energy. And we are. This Christmas a windmill park in the North Sea will come into operation. I see a lot of potential in that area.’ According to Van der Zwaan, the most important thing now is to gain broad support for the CO2 reduction plans. ‘We all hope that, over the next decade, China and India will reach the same level of prosperity we have. But we don’t want that development to involve enormous CO2 emissions. For developed and developing countries it is key to work closely together. We should set the example by rapidly reducing our CO2 emissions, while at the same time we should help others in developing their own sources of clean energy.’
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Showering is polluting ‘Nuclear energy as part of the solution for the CO2 problem? No way!’ Inge Verhoef is quite explicit. ‘We are dead against it. The risks connected with nuclear waste and the proliferation of nuclear technology are way too high.’ Verhoef is climate policy consultant with Milieucentrum Amsterdam, an umbrella organisation for environmental and nature groups. Milieucentrum Amsterdam advises the gemeente and develops projects aimed at raising awareness with the general public. ‘We critically follow the Amsterdam environmental policy. The Dutch government has launched the Actieplan Luchtkwaliteit [‘action plan for air quality’] with some fifty actions. We established that the gemeente hasn’t lived up to a number of those actions, so we advise them to do so after all. And we come up with additional ideas, like a policy on mopeds. Although mopeds are very polluting, there is nothing on them in the Actieplan. Not only do mopeds emit CO2, but also, and more importantly, particulate matter [tiny particles of smoke dissolved in the air we breathe], which endangers everybody’s health.’ Amsterdam, as a whole, is a big fossilfuel consumer, states Verhoef. ‘Like all big cities. The more people live in a certain place and the more they earn, the more they pollute. They drive their cars, take showers, eat, buy all sorts of consumer goods, and so on. For all those products and activities fossil fuels have been, or are, being used.’ NIMBY ‘Besparen, besparen, besparen!’ Save, save, save, Verhoef repeats like a mantra when asked what Amsterdammers can do to help solve the CO2 issue. In the September edition of Milieucentrum Amsterdam’s newsletter, she listed a number of tips on saving on fossil fuels. Examples include standby killers that help ensure that electrical devices are really switched off, water-saving shower heads, LCD televisions rather than plasma screens and unplugging your cell phone battery charger when it’s not recharging. The list also includes how much you can save money-wise. Has Verhoef done this with notorious Dutch stinginess in mind? She smiles. ‘People tend to have a not-inmy-backyard mentality. A better environment is too abstract a notion for them. Although they are not unwilling to cooperate, they would like to see something substantial in return.’ Incidentally, Verhoef feels that Amsterdam is doing ‘pretty well’, environmentally speaking. ‘The heat that is generated during the waste incineration process is used to heat other buildings. But we’re not there yet. We want the government of Amsterdam to be “climate neutral” by 2010, in order to reach climate neutrality for the city as a whole by 2020. That means that all governmental institutions, by 2010, shouldn’t contribute any longer to emitting greenhouse gases. We know that that is an almost unfeasible goal. So we propose that the gemeente, if they have not realised full climate neutrality by 2010, will be forced to invest in planting trees elsewhere in the world. That will cost them a lot of money, and we hope that they will come to the conclusion that it is worth to invest that money in sustainable energy.’ www.milieucentrumamsterdam.nl
Amsterdam Weekly
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CHECKING ON THE GREEN PAPERS ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANISATIONS HAVE JUDGED THE GREEN CALIBRE OF ELECTION MANIFESTOES, BUT NO ONE SEEMS TO BE KEEPING TRACK OF ALL THOSE PROMISES.
16-22 November 2006
t’s election time and every political party has cooked up an election manifesto, ranging from the modest four-page leaflet by the right-wing liberal VVD to an 80-page tome from the socialist SP. All the parties promise the world. Take GroenLinks, the left-wing green party. In their Verkiezingskrant Amsterdam, party leader Femke Halsema (or most likely, her copywriter) says: ‘If you vote for GroenLinks you will get twenty per cent less traffic jams and twenty per cent more trains. GroenLinks will bring you clean air, beautiful nature and a good climate.’ Stichting Natuur en Milieu, the nature and environment foundation, recently judged a number of election manifestoes on their greenness. As an independent organisation, they lobby for sustainable solutions for nature and environmental issues. ‘First we judged the drafts of the election manifestoes,’ says Jan Dirx, team manager for communication and strategy with the organisation. ‘We sent our comments to the different parties and went to their conventions afterwards, to check if they had listened to us. Finally, we pub-
lished our conclusions.’ Stichting Natuur en Milieu looked at a number of topics: notably, nature and agriculture, climate and energy and financial instruments. Dirx says: ‘We argue in favour of greenification of taxes. We want pollutant products to be taxed. As a result, income tax can be lowered. Labour will be cheaper, people will find jobs more easily, while at the same time, polluting the environment will cost you. We hope that companies will understand our point of view.’ The foundation came to the conclusion that GroenLinks, SP and ChristenUnie (the reformed Christian party) are ‘reasonably green’ and the social-democrat PvdA too, ‘but to a slightly lesser extent’. The Christian-democrat CDA and VVD are doing a worse job. But an election manifesto is one thing, and putting your money where your mouth is, is another. Does Stichting Natuur en Milieu also publish an overview of the actual results of all those promises? ‘Not anymore,’ Dirx says. ‘It takes a lot of time and it doesn’t bring in a lot. If you read the newspapers carefully you usually get a pretty good idea.’
Enough with the poldermodel already!
www.snm.nl
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BY FLORIS DOGTEROM, ILLUSTRATION BY MAARTEN VAN MAANEN
THE ENVIRONMENT IS NOT ONLY ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING AND PARTICULATE MATTER IN THE ATMOSPHERE. IT’S ALSO A MATTER OF HOW WARM AND COZY THE POLITICAL ATMOPSPHERE IS... Party
Profile
Green factor
Gezelligheidsfactor
ChristenUnie
Reformed Christians; orthodox on moral issues (against abortion, gay marriage, euthanasia), but considered to be progressive on socio-economics.
40-60% reduction of CO2 emissions by 2030; environmental tax on products; strict enforcement of environmental laws.
Two church services every Sunday.
PvdA
Social democrats; less than a year ago it looked like they were heading for a landslide win. Now facing another four years as opposition.
No new nuclear- or coal-based power plants; invest in CO2 reduction; cleaner cars; preserve open landscape and biodiversity, but at the same the time build new villages in rural areas.
Disastrous polls are now turning hope into despair.
CDA
Christian democrats aiming at another four years of neo-liberal rule (with VVD).
Return of Minister of Environment; nuclear energy an option; no measures to promote cleaner air; environmental tax on plane tickets.
Very gezellig. With such a proto-Dutchman like PM Balkendene at the helm, how can they go wrong?
GroenLinks
Green party wanting left-wing cabinet with PvdA and SP; won’t get it.
Non-sustainable energy taxed; CO2 emission reduced to pre-1990 levels; no nuclear energy; higher environmental taxes.
Optimistic against all odds.
SP
Former hard-boiled socialists; now willing to compromise in exchange for ministerial posts. On track for historical gains.
Reduce CO2 emissions; promote sustainable energy; no nuclear energy; clean up historical pollution; protect valuable nature.
It seems that nothing can beat their winning mood.
Groep Wilders
Xenophobic right-wing populists.
New nuclear power plants; more roads; higher maximum speed; second national airport.
No.
D66
Social liberals that blew up the previous coalition government (with CDA and VVD); bound to be wiped out for ever.
International treaties on CO2 emission; nuclear energy unacceptable; promotion of sustainable energy.
Moribund.
VVD
Right-wing liberals aiming at another four years of neo-liberal rule (with CDA).
No extra resources for sustainability; nuclear energy essential energy source; protect valuable green spots, but simultaniously expand villages in rural areas; CO2 emission needs to be reduced.
Minister Verdonk dancing to a Dixieland tune.
Tamara’s Open Partij
Bases its views on the opinions of everybody—whatever that means.
Polluter pays; more money for the environment.
Absolutely no idea how gezellig Tamara is.
Groen Vrij Internet Partij
Smoking dope for peace.
Promote ‘clean’ cars and build more highways.
If they win, Simon Vinkenoog might invite you over to his garden-house to celebrate.
16-22 November 2006
Amsterdam Weekly
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SHORT LIST
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (Shadow Festival), Tuesday, De Melkweg and De Uitkijk
FRIDAY17 NOVEMBER
doses of punk energy, hard-edge folkiness, Middle Eastern swoopiness and electronica weirdness. The Antwerp Gipsy Ska Orchestra and DJs Tommi & Hoppa! round out the bill. (Steve Korver) Melkweg, 21.30, €12 + membership.
Jazz: Gary Lucas
Gay: Fresh
In the mid-’60s, a goofy painter named Don began hearing voices in the desert: Howlin’ Wolf, Coltrane, Billy Shakespeare. He left the trailer, bought a fedora and hooked up with the Magic Band—a spiffy jazz and rock outfit—becoming their mad genius singer-songwriter, Captain Beefheart. Channeling the weird grit of American country blues, the wild-eyed Beefheart croaked and barked like he had just spent an afternoon on the dark river, sucking peyote buttons with the banjo dude from Deliverance. The Magic Band played strange, metered, frenzied stuff that listeners liked to call ‘free jazz’. But Gary Lucas, a former Magic Band guitarist, sets things straight: ‘What sounded like chaos was definitively organised by Beefheart... you weren’t supposed to deviate from the script.’ Lucas and saxophonist Phillip Johnston are touring Europe with five other musicians on their Fast ’n’ Bulbous tour, an allinstrumental treatment of Beefheart’s best work. Johnston has skillfully arranged horn charts for all of the absent Beefheart vocals, calling the septet’s work ‘both a tribute and a creative adventure.’ (Michael Martin) Bimhuis, 21.00, €18.
The next Rapido party won’t be until March 2007 at Paradiso. For those who can’t wait, there’s Fresh, Rapido’s funky—and just as sexy—little brother. Yep, it’s the same hedonistic ‘party ’til you drop’ concept, but on a lesser scale and at a smaller venue: the more intimate Sugar Factory. So... get a fake tan, pump that body and don’t bother to iron that shirt, as most guys take them off as soon as they get in. Indeed, the dance floor is a non-stop show of shaved chests, perky pecs and six-packs. This time round, the decks line-up is DJ Doug Gray and DJ Giangi Cappai, who’ll spin vocal underground house with a sunny vibe, and expect plenty of quirky performances, too. Make sure you go this time because Fresh won’t be held in December—as was promised earlier—since rumour has it that the venue thinks it’s too gay and will only confuse their regular Friday non-gay punters if it’s held too often. Surely a not-so fresh attitude? (Willem de Blaauw) Sugar Factory, 23.00-05.00, €15.
Benefit: Amsterdam Jam Aa-harrrr, it’s all so nice and salty. This weekend, the good ship Stubnitz hosts a rollercoaster ride of local bands, DJs and artists programmed by nachtburgemeester Chiel van Zelst. They have all come together to help raise money to invest in a future mooring spot for this most singular of squatty-vibed freighters. Key words: multi-genre, fun, quirky, groovy, post-nautical. On Friday, the line-up features Freighttrain Billy, Anacondas, Quartier Moustache, Ramchez & Pep, Hysterezis, Reverend Eat Shit Smile, Eva Maria, DJ Seutek, PIPS:lab, Vincenzo de Bull, Sandrien, Esther, The Cooling Show, and VJ Zanne. On Saturday, one can indulge in the likes of Aux Raus, DJ Toby, TomCats, Carlos Valdez, DJ Bone, DJ Aardvarck, Anneriek Schuurmans, Patrick van Ginkel, VJ Teyega, Abraxas & Flamman, The Cooling Show, Kwik & V-Neal, and DJ Mulat. Aa-harrrr, it just does not get any better than this. Bring your own fishfingers. And pirate gear. And don’t forget to shiver those timbers. (Steve Korver) Stubnitz, 21.00-05.00, €10.
World: Balkan Beatz Dance Night I can get worked up by Balkan beats. I’ve even come close to smashing a glass on a table ready to smash my wrists down onto the shards to rub them about in pure, delirious happy-sadness. But I’ve never quite done it. Hopefully, I’ll be un-uptight enough to pull that off one day, but meanwhile there’s nothing like surfing the fine line between purgative partying and impending apocalypse. Yes, we have eaten. Yes, we have drunken. So now we fucking dance. Yes, tonight you’ll definitely be able to dance. Headliners are the NYC underground band Balkan Beat Box, which includes members from kinetic gypsy punkers Gogol Bordello, along with a posse of DJs, VJs and saxophones. And like all good roaming gypsies, they have absorbed all the sounds that surround them: yes, there are plenty of Romany rhythms and melodies but they come infused with equal
Festival: The One Minutes If you’re hankering after a veritable visual deluge, get yourself a passe-partout to this little gem of a festival, which is screening 1,100 films from 65 different countries for your consideration. Wrap your head around those numbers for one minute, then begin to drool incessantly as only a reclusive, gibbering film slob can. Or, if you’re afraid your eyes will explode like in that scene in Re-Animator, you might want to limit yourself to the closing night hosted at Paradiso by New York anchor Kuno Terwindt. That will show a more modest amount of films (but still 60 of ’em) and it’s also the site of the Tommies award event (there’ll be 10 of those). Apart from a celluloid tsunami, expect meet-and-greets, interviews and the mysteriously worded ‘live performances’. And the participation of eager young film-makers from across the globe makes it even more of a worthwhile, heartwarming event. (Luuk van Huët) Het Ketelhuis, various times, €8. Until Sunday.
SUNDAY19 NOVEMBER Festival: Cannabis Cup 19 When Steven Hager started the first Cannabis Cup in 1987, it was branded as nothing more than an excuse to smoke a veritable bounty of weed. But there’s way more to it than that. Really. There are bands, grow seminars, Wake and Bake sessions and, well, OK—it’s mostly about smoking the ganja. But there is an important element—a silver lining, if you will, on the thick cloud of smoke. Namely: most other governments continue to ignore the obvious ease and benefit of relegating soft drugs from the realm of criminality. And until they do, we’re going to have lots of stoned tourists celebrating what they don’t have at home. So, even if they annoy you while stumbling unwittingly into your bike lane, remember: each one is a sign of our leadership in liberal thought. Until the
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world catches up, stoners will be the bane of our brilliance. Things could be worse. (Mark Wedin) Various locations and times, €200 judges pass. Until 23 November.
MONDAY 20 NOVEMBER Classical: Joods Muziekfestival I’m a Jew and I play music. Since there are lots of us—and Jews like a good simcha— some brilliant menches decided on creating an all-encompassing Jewish music festival in Mokum, running for six whole days. While my own uniquely secular twang is not, alas, being featured, plenty of fantastic contemporary, traditional, sacred and secular music is. This includes classical concerts featuring Bernstein, Gershwin and Copland, a rehashing of Peter and The Wolf and Teresa Tova, and a Canadian cabaret singer who is so good you will want seconds. All of this is housed within one small venue, the rather glamorous Cristofori Salon on Prisengracht. The Joods Muziekfestival will be one big sonic simcha, complete with hora renditions, bellows of Yerushalayim Shel Zachav and plenty of Avenu Malkanus to go around. Tickets are in short supply, to keep this Jew-do intimate, so either reserve online or visit the Jewish Historische Museum today, where 125 shekels will buy a pass to see the whole magillah. (Shain Shapiro) Cristofori, various times and prices. Until 26 November.
Electronica: Cansei De Ser Sexy They may have got tired of being sexy, but hipsters around the world have yet to grow weary of the latest (only? Naturally, we don’t count Sepultura) sensation from São Paulo. Cynics may say there’s a little bit too much of the cool-by-numbers about CSS— the footless tights, the Deborah Harry styling, the loose grasp of English, the asymmetric fringes—but they’re very easy on the eye wherever you place yourself on the Kinsey Scale, and their beats are quite irresistible. A bit of Tom Tom Club here, a dash of Le Tigre there, a splash of Giorgio Moroder all mixed all up with a Casio keyboard and topped with a twist of The Slits—the resulting cocktail is as imbibable as a bucket of caipirinhas. This evening, expect stage-diving, smutty talk and live renditions of material from their eponymous album, like the self-conciously daft ‘Fuckoff Is Not the Only Thing You Have to Show’. Seems like the band that started off as a joke is having the last laugh. (Kim Renfrew) Paradiso, Grote Zaal, 20.00, €12 + membership.
Country: Castanets Sad music is often the most uplifting. While you can’t label Castanets as a ‘sad’ collective per se, it’s still a struggle to find the right words to describe this band, because they are exceptionally good at finding ways to elude classification. Still, even if it is an effort, it’s worth giving it the old college try: Castanets are a travelling San Diego-based group, fronted by the gorgeously frail, droning vocal chords of Raymond Raposa. Their music is quiet, thoughtful, evocative, plainly weird, lo-fi, clangy, bluesy and remorseful. Raposa and company roll through dirt-laced alt country, free-folk and melancholia to get some sort of point across. This point—whatever it may be—is entrancing. Castanets lure you in a manner only few others can, by doing much less than most, in order to accomplish much more. Think Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy (Will Oldham) with a penchant for chaos, rough blues, whisky and semantics. (Shain Shapiro) Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 22.30, €6 + membership.
TUESDAY 21NOVEMBER Festival: Shadow Festival Since its inception in 2000 as the alternative to IDFA, the Shadow Festival for creative documentary films has always been a more international affair. This seventh edition again picks documentaries from all over the world that aren’t necessarily narrative or even true to life, but offer a more experimental approach to the medium instead. The opening night at Melkweg features Lenka Clayton and James Price’s People in Order, which manipulates government statistics to present real portraits of real people. It plays alongside the tonguetwisting Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One, William Greaves’ seldom-screened docu about a revolutionary happening in Central Park in 1968. Highlights on Wednesday are Chloe Ruthven’s Surrey Girls, focusing on a group of teenage girls openly speaking about sex, drugs and relationships, and Ting-Fu Huang’s The Yellow Box, which explores the unique Taiwanese phenomenon of betel nut vendors. See next week’s Amsterdam Weekly for more on Shadow and IDFA (and this week’s Shadow Festival insert). (Marinus de Ruiter) Melkweg and De Uitkijk, various times and prices. Until 29 November.
Send details and images for listing consideration at least two weeks in advance to agenda@amsterdamweekly.nl.
Amsterdam Weekly
11
NANNA KOEKOEK
16-22 November 2006
Novelist Thomas van Aalten gives his tips and misses at Crossing Border—and flagrantly hypes his own gig.
THE BORDER BETWEEN WORDS AND MUSIC By Thomas van Aalten Literature and pop music: an interesting combination. Although the idea of pop is still, in some writers’ minds, evil and disgusting, most of us who inhabit the modern age are used to it. In the end, they’re all artists; though it may be it a bit much to put musicians and writers in one room and expect them create new forms. But that’s not the main goal of a festival like Crossing Border. Before we begin, let me admit to a slight case of incest. I’m a writer, and I’ll be performing at Crossing Border myself. But you’ll be glad to know that this is one festival that offers far more than just another unknown author in a small, dark room. The festival’s secret weapon is its diversity—four whole days of writers and music, ranging from Dutch hiphop to arty pop, to poetry and movies, to indie bands who are so popular you wonder why they’re labelled ‘indie’ in the first place. This year, the festival takes place in its original home of Den Haag. It was held for a very short time in Amsterdam in 2000, but, as sometimes happens with such things, Amsterdam and Crossing Border didn’t sit comfortably together on the couch. So the festival went back to its roots, and what started in the early 1990s as a modest event has now grown
into one of the largest music and spoken word events in the world. So, what’s a real must-see this year? Ah, now we’re getting nasty. But if you’re counting on recommendations by a lazy bastard from Amsterdam who’s performing at the festival himself, go and see the following artists. They’re worth it. Worth crossing street for The true Princess—no, Queen—of Dutch cinema is Sylvia Kristel without a doubt. She became world-famous after starring in the Emmanuelle movies. Yes, we mean those films which lacked story or plot, where the lip-synch never quite synched, which were mostly recorded in Thailand and other exotic settings, and featured a lot of nudity. Highbrow they most definitely were not, but they illustrated the hedonistic atmosphere of the ’70s and early ’80s. Kristel married a lot of men, drank a lot of booze and lived above the chemist shop, if you catch my drift, and now it’s time to praise her. Together with Stephen Emmer, Manuel Hugas and Eric Hoeke, Kristel will perform Recitement at this year’s Crossing Border. It’s a ‘project informed by a synergy of music and poetry, aiming to disseminate a tradition of cultural exploration but in a contemporary style.’ Bon ton, we don’t know what to expect, but I feel there’s something growing here.
(Sylvia Kristel performs on the Cascadeur stage, 22.15, 17 November.) What’s next? In his early years, Finn Andrews of The Veils lived in New Zealand, then moved to London. There, he met some blokes and formed a band, but dropped the members as soon as he noticed he didn’t want to be in just another Britpop-style combo. In 2006, he’s back with a new band and a refreshing sound with the album Nux Vomica. It’s stunningly dark, like a lonesome preacher in a post-war desert with flies buzzing around his head. Does that sound like Nick Cave or 16 Horsepower? Maybe, but The Veils are doing it in their very own way. It’s unbelievable that such a young spirit like Andrews—he’s 23 years old— can use such deep, heavy words. But let’s bow down to the band and their album, probably one of the best of 2006. (The Veils perform on Stage 1, 19.45, 20 November.) Willy Vlautin is the singer with Richmond Fontaine, an alt country band from Portland, Oregon. He also wrote a novel, which got published in the UK, and won’t be appearing in the US until next year. Huh? Must have been some kind of marketing tool. Anyway, it’s typically American and that is, in this case, a compliment. Motel Life is a story of two brothers on the run. A life of cars, motels, bad luck, coffee and a lot of snow and cold—it’s literature in the tradition of Kerouac’s On the Road, but in a dark and rainy way, without any trace of heroism. Vlautin will perform with his band and also do some reading, all at once. He’ll read a bit, then pick up his guitar. And so on. Get the idea, lumberjack? Even if you’re not that into the alt country genre, Vlautin has written a very nice piece with this novel and it’s worth checking out to see if the performance will work. (Richmond Fontaine perform on Stage 3, 19.45, 18 November. On 17
Artistes sans frontières.
November, on the Cuatro Stage, Vlautin performs with DBC Pierre and Sarah Hall in ‘To Hell’.) Avoid at all costs There’s lots more you should check out, but there’s also stuff you’d better ignore this year, too. Who on earth thought the pale-faced Razorlight would be a good idea for a festival like this? The boys’ lyrics are awful, the melodies were done better years before by many others and they’re big in the UK. So, just another indie rock band, then. Next, please. Brian Jonestown Massacre. Those who saw them at the Melkweg this year didn’t know who was more asleep: the audience or singer Anton Newcombe. Drones, stoned voice, too many guitars, too slow, that stupid guy with his sideburns, too many songs and their gig lasted at least two hours. And if you saw that documentary, Dig, then you’ll know it makes them look even more tragic. It seems they lost the game to the Dandy Warhols, that other drugged-up combo who lost their mind but did win chart success. Connoisseurs, of course, always preferred The Jesus and Mary Chain. Get the idea, ladies and gentlemen? Find out more on the website. And if you don’t agree with me, find me on Friday at the festival and spit in my face. After that, I’ll be performing with the sleazy organ rock duo zZz and reading parts of my latest novel, Coyote, while the band plays a bastard groovy suicidal monotone soundtrack. But that’s another story. Sssh. Crossing Border, 15-18 November, Theater aan het Spui, Spui 187, Den Haag, 070 302 4070, various times and prices, Friday sold out, www.crossingborder.nl
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Cansei De Ser Sexy, see Monday
MUSIC Send listing suggestions at least two weeks in advance to agenda@amsterdamweekly.nl
Thursday 16 November Pop/Rock: Emergenza Just another talent contest, albeit a mammoth international variant of one. Though considerably less a beacon for true music fans, the Winston will be bustling with friends and family of the many, many competing bands. Winston Kingdom, 19.00, €12 Classical: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Per-
forming Beethoven’s Egmont Overture, Symphony No.8 and Stravinsky’s Le sacre du printemps; conducted by Mariss Jansons. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €52.50 Jazz: Tobias Delius Quartet The acclaimed prizewinning saxophonist and regular to the Dutch scene over the last couple of decades can be found performing with the likes of Sean Bergin and Chris Abelen. But Delius is most at home in his own quartet who enjoy both national and international recognition, so tonight’s swinging return to Bimhuis should be a pleasant experience. Bimhuis, 21.00, €14 Soul/R&B: Girltalk Soul, blues and R&B with shades of gospel and country from singing trio Paulien van Schaik, Jeanet de Jager and Wies Ingwersen. Badcuyp, Bovenzaal, 21.30, €8 Rock: The Pax Garage rock ’n’ roll. Café Pakhuis Wilhelmina, 21.30, €5
16-22 November 2006 Hiphop/R&B: New Talent Showcase A stage for fresh urban talents. Performers include Reejon (hiphop), Chy-Kyria (soul), Veelplegers (hiphop) and more. OneFourOne, 22.00, €4 Rock: Santanico Latin rockers. Bourbon Street, 22.00, free before 23.00 Electronica: The Juan Maclean A DJ set from the American master of robodisco, as part of the Noodlanding! club night. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 23.30, €9
Friday 17 November Hiphop: The Alkaholiks LA hiphoppers known for their funky and upbeat but also hard sound. The 2006 release Firewater is reportedly The Alkies’ final collaboration, but they’ve not retired from touring just yet. Paradiso, Grote Zaal, 01.00, €18.50 Classical: Lunch Concert Students from the classical department of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. Bethaniënklooster, 12.30, free Rock: Sally Family Festival A celebration of the Sally Forth Records roster, with a little help from the Volkoren label. A highlight of the busy night is the return of This Beautiful Mess, whose jagged guitars are tamed by acoustic strums, while passionate cries mingle with the sweet backing melodies of Lydia Wever, and tinkling pianos soothe the staccato rhythms. Danish outfit Campsite should prove fitting headliners with dance-friendly angular rock. Melkweg, 18.30, €12 + membership Opera: Così Fan Tutte So far this year, De Nederlandse Opera have made Mozart’s operatic repertoire the main calling card of their programmes. With the end of the year now approaching, three operas are being revisited, opening with this gem, with libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. Het Muziektheater, 19.00, sold out Pop/Rock: Emergenza (See Thursday) Winston Kingdom, 19.00, €12 Rock: The Levellers One of those bands that just keeps on rolling without ever spilling any of their loyal fanbase, or even receiving much in the way of positive media attention, the crusty folk rockers have been trawling across Europe to promote their new live DVD Chaos Theory. As such, it’s going to be something of a ‘greatest hits’ party, with splashes of really old, really new and a big dose of singalong favourites. Paradiso, Grote Zaal, 19.30, €16.50 + membership
Amsterdam Weekly Opera: Die Zauberflöte A grand performance of Mozart’s popular Magic Flute. Starring famous German soprano Katarzyna Dondalska, this interpretation is taking a contemporary multimedia approach, blending live performance with spectacular staging and video backing. RAI, 20.15, €45-€90
Pop/Rock: Amsterdam Beat Club Featuring a live set from the instrumentally driven—and slightly insane— Das Aldi Combo. Maloe Melo, 22.00, €5
Jazz: Izaline Calister, Peter Beets A first set features the Peter Beets Trio led by the pianist sensation himself. Following is a second set focused on jazz singer Izaline Calister. Concertgebouw, Kleine Zaal, 20.15, €20
Saturday 18 November
Classical: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Performing Beethoven’s Symphony No.8 and Mahler’s First Symphony in D; conducted by Mariss Jansons. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €52.50
Amsterdamse Popschool 2006 Two days of nonstop live sets. Bitterzoet, 15.00, free
World: Atongo Zimba The Ghanaian singer and koloko player blends traditional African music with afrobeat, jazz and funk. Huge in his home country, his impressive range of melodies has been dazzling world music fans internationally these past couple of years. KIT Tropentheater, 20.30, €18 Jazz: Jazzavond Ragtime and old jazz tunes performed by Harrie van de Voort on the pianola. Pianola Museum, 20.30, €7.50 Classical: Nederlands Kamerkoor Performing Francis Poulenc’s Figure humaine—one of the masterpieces of the choral repertoire and a moving tribute to liberty. Threaded throughout the evening will be recitations by actress Julika Marijn about Jewish wartime diarist Etty Hillesum, while other composers touched upon in the musical programme include Lassus, Gesualdo da Venosa and Penderecki. Muziekgebouw, 20.30, €19 Hiphop/R&B: Freestyle voor de GRAP 2006 Finale of the Amsterdam MC freestyle contest: 16 local vocalists have prepped their rhymes and polished their improv skills with the hope of being crowned the best in town. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 21.00, €10 Jazz: Gary Lucas Best known for working with Jeff Buckley, the leftfield guitarist returns to his Captain Beefheart roots with the Phillip Johnston Septet. See Short List. Bimhuis, 21.00, €18 World: Balkan Beatz Dance Night Eastern Blocrockin’ beats from Balkan Beat Box to Antwerp Gipsy Ska Orchestra. See Short List. Melkweg, 21.30, €12 + membership
Blues: The Rattlesnake Train Bluesy rock. Bourbon Street, 22.00, free before 23.00
Classical: Devich Trio Performing Debussy’s Piano Trio, Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No.1 and Pärt’s Mozart Adagio. Noorderkerk, 14.00, €10
Opera: Don Giovanni The Mozart opera season continues with this operatic masterpiece, widely regarded as one of the greatest pieces of music ever composed. Het Muziektheater, 19.00, sold out Pop/Rock: Emergenza (See Thursday) Winston Kingdom, 19.00, €12 Rock: Two Gallants Guitar and drums duo from San Francisco whose roots lie in Delta blues and folk, often fusing the two together, while lyrics stay dark. Support from Cold War Kids. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 19.30, €10 + membership World: Bi Kidude The undisputed queen of Taarab and Unyago music, this living legend’s stage presence and powerful voice belie her 93 years. KIT Tropentheater, 20.30, €20 Opera: Curlew River A Benjamin Britten special with an operatic performance of Curlew River, the first of his three Church Parables, originally adapted from Japanese Noh theatre. The Doelen Ensemble provides the musical accompaniment, while soloists and a small male vocal ensemble present the story in the role of monks. Dominicuskerk, 20.30, €31 Hiphop: Raymzter Social and political rap. Podium Mozaïek, 20.30, €10 Jazz: Horacio ‘El Negro’ Hernandez & Italuba The ‘superhuman’ Cuban-born drummer Italuba has performed with Michel Camilo, Chucho Valdes, Roy Hargrove and Carlos Santana, among others. Tonight sees his debut as bandleader, showcasing a repertoire based on startling Afro Cuban rhythms. Bimhuis, 21.00, €16 Pop/Rock: Jovink & the Voederbietels Comedy rock from the long running outfit, currently promoting the
13 album Wakker worden!. Melkweg, 21.00, €14.50 + membership Blues: The Moonhawks Sweaty blues rock. Maloe Melo, 22.00, €5 Electronica/Jazz: Vikter Duplaix DJ, vocal star and all-round pretty boy, Duplaix has produced diverse soundscapes for the likes of Earth, Wind and Fire, Jazzanova, Norman Brown, Nitin Sawhney, King Britt and Spacek. Sugar Factory, 22.00, €15
Sunday 19 November Amsterdamse Popschool 2006 (See Saturday) Bitterzoet, 15.00, free World: Celso Fonseca With his gorgeous, warm voice and magnificent guitar playing, soulful Brazilian performer Fonseca is bringing the purest roots of bossa and samba to European theatres. KIT Tropentheater, 15.00, €20 Jazz: Ikki Bizarre but explosive power jazz from the internationally-minded ensemble led by Japanese Amsterdammer Matsumoto ‘Ikki’ Kazushi. Badcuyp, Bovenzaal, 15.30, €5 Jazz: Ollthuis & Van Veenendaal & the Mystery of Guests Jazz meets classical in this performance by the piano/sax duo, who will be dutifully aided by guitarist Corrie van Binsbergen. Bethaniënklooster, 15.30, €15 Opera: Le Nozze di Figaro The final element of De Nederlandse Opera’s autumnal Mozart trilogy, The Marriage of Figaro is one of his most successful and popular works. Het Muziektheater, 19.00, sold out Gospel: Gospel in Concert Rotterdam may have the Night of the Proms, but who wants to go see UB40 and Tears For Fears these days anyway, never mind with orchestral backing? Amsterdam’s alternative is this gospel party, organised by the Holland Symfonia. Headliners include Edwin Hawkins, Tania Kross and young R&B group Brace—helping to get the kids interested. And while all acts specialise in celebratory gospel, the symphonic accompaniment should lead to some cross-cultural fun. Pepsi Stage, 20.00, €15 Jazz: De Gerard Kleijn Group CD presentation by the international jazz group, who explore the territory between that of French composer Erik Satie and their own jazzy ideals. Bethaniënklooster, 20.15, €10
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16-22 November 2006 World: Grupo Serenada Primarily a cappella works from the group from Curaçao, originally formed in 1975, who continually strive to keep alive the colourful musical heritage of the island. Meervaart, 20.30, €15 Jazz: Guus Janssen & David Kweksilber Searching for common ground between the worlds of improvised jazz and rigid contemporary compositions, the pianist and saxophonist/clarinetist may live in different musical worlds, but together their creations are open minded. Bimhuis, 21.00, €12 Jazz: Room Eleven Diverse party jazz purpose built for special occasions. Sugar Factory, 21.00, €8.50
Monday 20 November Contemporary: Abbie de Quant A contemporary programme led by flautist De Quant. Featuring dance and mime, musical works include pieces by Jeths, Takemitsu, Yun, Debussy, Bach and Van Goudoever. Concertgebouw, Kleine Zaal, 19.00, 21.15, €27.50 Electronica: Cansei De Ser Sexy Brazilian electropop beloved of the art school crowd. See Short List. Paradiso, Grote Zaal, 20.00, €12 + membership Festival: Joods Muziekfestival: Green Violin First peformance in the week-long festival. See Short List. Cristofori, 20.00, €20 Pop/Rock: Leve de Beatles! A trip down memory lane with Beatles tribute band The Beatlex. But the real appeal of tonight’s performance for older fans will be an interview with Bob Spitz, author of The Beatles’ mammoth biography, now translated into Dutch. Melkweg, 20.30, €10 Classical: Residentie Orkest The Den Haag orchestra are joined by violinist Janine Jansen to perform works by Mendelssohn, Bizet and Bruch. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.30, €35 Pop/Rock: Subbacultcha! Slow and atmospheric is the style for this programme. Swedish outfit Music77 play with the slow intensity and dynamism of Low. Audiotransparent are making the trip south from Groningen and specialise in melancholic cinematic soundscapes. The bill is completed by singer-songwriter Lee Mason, taking inspiration from Nick Drake and Radiohead. Bitterzoet, 20.30, €5 Rock: You Say Party! We Say Die! Noisy new wave rockers from Vancouver offering a riot grrrlish vocal delivery from singer Becky Ninkovic. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 20.30, €10 + membership Contemporary: Gaudeamus Live Electronics Festival: POW Ensemble Reconstructing works by Takehisa Kosugi, Steve Reich, Alvin Lucier, Gilius van Bergeijk, Christian Wolff, Robert Ashley and Misha Mengelberg. Plus a screening of the film Innovative Friends. Bimhuis, 21.00, €14 Big band: New Cool Collective Monday night means one thing: it’s time for some big band grooves. Surely the hippest ensemble in town, the New Cool Collective have surpassed the concept of one-dimensional genres, aiming only to entertain—worrying about the consequences later. Sugar Factory, 21.00, €5 Experimental: DNK-Amsterdam Electro-acoustic jam sessions. Tonight’s sets include a performance from Machinefabriek and a collaboration between Tape That (The Catalogue), Christophe Meierhans and Koen Nutters. OT301, 21.30, €4 Country: Castanets Heart-rending, classificationdefying country music. See Short List. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 22.30, €6 + membership
Tuesday 21 November Opera: Così Fan Tutte (See Friday) Het Muziektheater, 19.00, €20-€100 Contemporary: Abbie de Quant (See Monday) Concertgebouw, Kleine Zaal, 19.00, 21.15, €27.50 Festival: Joods Muziekfestival: Green Violin See Monday and Short List. Cristofori, 20.00, €20 Contemporary: Gaudeamus Live Electronics Festival: New Works Fresh compositions and world premieres performed by Bakin Zub, MAE and Tomoko Mukaiyama. Muziekgebouw, 20.30, €15 Pop/Rock: The Frames Much loved in their native Ireland and by expats the world over, The Frames have a long history of heart-wrenching songwriting behind them, as well as full-on rock. Melkweg, 21.00, sold out Rock: The Blood Arm Hip rock outfit from LA. Dance friendly? Yes. Post punk? Yes. By all accounts they’re the latest in a long line of trendies, but their showmen antics have been going down a storm in Britain. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 22.30, €7 + membership
16-22 November 2006
Wednesday 22 November Festival: Joods Muziekfestival: Peter and the Wolf An interpretation of the Prokofiev favourite. See Short List. Cristofori, 15.00, €20 Festival: Joods Muziekfestival: Green Violin See Monday and Short List. Cristofori, 20.00, €20 Rock: Tapes ’n Tapes Indie rock band from Minneapolis. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 20.00, sold out Hiphop: The Roots First night of a Paradiso double bill as part of their Game Theory world tour. Paradiso, Grote Zaal, 20.00, sold out Classical: Red Army Choir Militaristic, yes, but with lots of humour and adventure. The huge troupe, consisting of a male choir, an orchestra, and a dance ensemble, should make for quite a sound and spectacle. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €34.50/ €41.50
Amsterdam Weekly DJs, Dans Le Rock and Snob! And if that’s not enough, Ebony Bones, a new wave carnival collective from London will be playing live. Club 8, 22.00-04.00, €5 Techlab Techno and house with Steve Mamman. Club NL, 22.00-04.00, €5 The Zoo With Frederik Abas, Raymundo and Sir Edward. The Zebra, 22.00-04.00, €10 Ironica With Parra and All Out K. Flex Bar, 22.0005.00, free before 00.00, €7 Salsa Passion Food, drink and saucy salsa. Blijburg, 22.00-late, €5 ¿Que Pasa? Latin-crossover night with reggae, folk, ska, punk and mestizo. Melkweg, 23.00, €7 + membership USSR & Models at Work Eclectic, house and even karaoke. Odeon, 23.00-05.00, €12.50 Fashion Radio With Lupe, Les Deux d’Electrique, Marija Kadelburg and Vitamin K. Studio 80, 23.00-late, €7.50
Saturday 18 November The Black Disco Bust Classics from the depths of disco and funk, with DJs San Proper, Radar and All-Out-K. Sugar Factory, 01.00-05.00, €8 Nightwriters vs Houseplay It starts off with a night of writers, but before you know it, Panama will be transformed into a sea of house and electro tunes as American DJ and producer Todd Terry works up a sweat in a three-hour set. Panama, 20.00-04.00, €15/€17.50
Michel Waisvisz (Gaudeamus Live Electronics Festival) Contemporary: Gaudeamus Live Electronics Festival: POW Ensemble, Nic Collins, DJ DNA Collaborating with students from Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht, the keystone of this programme should be a fruitful interpretation of Cartridge Music by John Cage. In addition, Michel Waisvisz performs original works, the ensemble E-RAX will unleash a wall of sound from their synths and sound modules, and My Kingdom For a Lullaby are on the improv. Muziekgebouw, 20.30, €15 Pop/Rock: Mando Diao Playful Swedish rock ’n’ roll offering hints of ’60s pop and R&B, garage rock and punk. Out on the road promoting recent album Ode To Ochrasy, the Melkweg floor is likely to be awash with bodies in motion. Support from Johnossi. Melkweg, 20.30, €13 + membership Reggae: Jam Session Led by Ghettowish. Musicians and vocalists welcome. Volta, 21.00, free Pop: Lupo Driving melodic pop. Sugar Factory, 21.00, €5 Jazz: Motion Trio Polish accordion trio with a dark and dramatic soul. References flip from Bach to polka, and metal to techno, as Motion redefine the essence of the accordion à la acoustic sampling. Bimhuis, 21.00, €14 Pop/Rock: Club 3voor12 Live radio and TV session featuring Mike Watt & The Missingmen, Danielson and Damien Jurado. Register for tickets at www.3voor12.nl. Desmet Studios, 22.00, free Hiphop: Jedi Mind Tricks Dark hiphop from the Philadelphia crew that have long danced with controversy over their aggressive anti-Catholic and homophobic lyrics. Melkweg, 23.30, €15 + membership
CLUBS Thursday 16 November Poptrash Three decades’ worth of rock, electro and hiphop with The Punchout DJs. Melkweg, 23.00, €4 Vreemd Outlandish electro and performance with DJs Boris Werner, Xelor, Toby Paul and Zender, and live performances. Sugar Factory, 23.00-05.00, €7.50
Bassline: Breakin’ Walls Marking the end of the youth theatre festival, it’s urban music that takes centre stage in this party titled ‘A Little Darker Mixtape Showcase’. Acts include The Sadists, Don’t Hit Mama, Ms Dynamite, C-Mon & Kypski, DJs SP, Cream and MC Lyrical Tie. Paradiso, 20.00-05.00, €12 Bloem Soul, funk and pop with a flowery feminine touch. Café Pakhuis Wilhelmina, 21.00-late, €7 Freshcotton Hiphop, dancehall and reggae, as the likes of DuvelDuvel and Jawat! lead a tribute to Bob Marley. Also with the Herbalize It & Drunken Lion Soundsystem. Hotel Arena, 22.00-04.00, €15 Teleskope invites Freerange With DJs Jimpster aka Audiomontage, Edo Salgado and Olaf. 11, 22.0004.00, €12 Dutchstep Allstars The sound of the London underground with a Dutch twist. Blijburg, 22.00-late, €5 Inmotion Techno, with Cassy (Berlin), Shinedoe, 2000 and One, Peel Seamus and Aroy Dee. Studio 80, 23.00, €8 De Shit! Minimal, electro and tech house styles, with DJs Rosso, Shiva and Zender. De Kring, 23.00-04.00, €5 eRRorWERK: HuisVredebreuk! Drill & bass, Gameboy techno, grime, speed garage and bizarro industrial electro. OCCII, 23.00-04.00, €5 Be Exclusive With DJs Rishi Romero, Irwan, Sunnery James and Lucky Charmes. Sinners, 23.00-05.00, €12 Passion Club house and electro. Odeon, 23.0005.00, €10 Crossfader Hiphop and dancehall favourites. Melkweg, 23.59, €10 + membership Dance Arena Alternative dance, pop and rock. Melkweg, 23.59, €7 + membership
Sunday 19 November De Kerk Chilled-out soul and hiphop from the Rednose Distrikt crew. Flex Bar, 22.00-04.00, €5 WickedJazzsounds Jazz, hiphop, broken beats, nujazz, funk and Afro sounds, as classic vinyl collides with live musicians. Sugar Factory, 23.00-05.00, €8.50
Monday 20 November Cheeky Monday Drum & bass and jungle. Winston Kingdom, 21.30-03.30, €6
Friday 17 November
Wednesday 22 November
360 With Patrick Chardronnet (live), Nuno dos Santos, Patrice Bäumel and an Open Wound video performance by Arnout Huiskamp. 11, 22.00-04.00, €12
Mashtizo A Latin gypsy reggae punk party, including a live set from Barcelona band Che Sudaka. Winston Kingdom, 21.00-03.00, €5
Penis in Vagina A DIY indie disco rave party. Spinning vinyl in the rock ’n’ rave pit are the RobotRock
Pop! An intoxicating mix of cocktails and pop music. Sugar Factory, 23.00-04.00, €5
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Amsterdam Weekly
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GAY& LESBIAN Thursday 16 November Beaujolais Primeur Avond Get some of the new crop of French wine down your throat! Amstel Taveerne
women, tonight starring Jasmine. Café Sappho, 19.00-01.00, free Live Jazz en Soul Smooth wind-down to the weekend. Soho, 20.30, free
Tuesday 21 November Movie Snack Night Tonight featuring one of the greatest films of all time: François Ozon’s 8 Femmes, an all-singing, all-dancing murder-mystery featuring several generations of French totty from Danielle Darrieux to Ludivine Sagnier by way of Deneuve and Béart. PRIK, free
CliQue Dancing for free on a Thursday night. With DJ No5 spinning electro, ’80s pop and rock, and funky techno Beatz. With a fashion catwalk and lounge area. Happy hour 01.00-02.00. Exit, 00.00-04.00, free
Theatre: Gutsman Superman’s clumsy counterpart storms the stage in this integration of comic projections with physical performance. There’s dance, comedy, and even music by The Bluegrass Boogiemen. In Dutch. Melkweg Theater, 20.30, €9
Vrouwenavond DJ Voytec plays mainstream beats to a mainly lesbian crowd and their male guests. Café Sappho, 21.00-03.00, free Fresh Diffusion line from the House of Rapido. See Short List. Sugar Factory, 23.00-05.00, €15
Pussy Shake! Newish, hands-in-the-air night for women with DJs M-Cecile and Fady playing electro, house and minimal. Club NL, 22.00-04.00, €5
Sunday 19 November Double Bubble Happy Hour With DJ No5 playing dance classics, TV themes, Nederpop and disco. April, 18.00-20.00, free Female Sensual Latino Lounge and tapas night for
Music/Theatre: Der Hund Theatre group De Helling and the Doelen Ensemble present this almost operatic look at the last hours of Austrian philosopher Otto Weininger, who took his own life in 1903 after publishing the book Sex and Character to great acclaim. Muziekgebouw, 20.30, €15
Music/Theatre: De Dienstmeid Zerline An intimate musical by Orkater, based on a chapter from Hermann Broch’s 1950 novel The Guiltless. In Dutch. Theater Bellevue, 20.30, €16.50
Goldrush Dance classics remixed and pumped up by DJ Jerry Black. Also features champagne bar with Tara Montana and a special treat for everyone. Exit, 00.0005.00, €7; under-21s free until 01.00, then €3.50
Saturday 18 November
Theatre: Quarantaine Theatre company Huis aan de Amstel presents a performance that combines theatre with documentary. The central topic is isolation— large film screens show interviews with witnesses of the Leningrad siege, while on stage is a play about a group of people awakening in a strange place, suddenly and completely cut off from the outside world. In Dutch. Het Rozentheater, 20.00, €12.50
Comedy: Comedytrain Stand-up. In Dutch. Toomler, 20.30, €13.50
Friday 17 November
Twisted Tunes Tonight’s tunes are twisted by DJ Bean & DJ Duck. PRIK, 22.00-03.00, free
directed by Ivo van Hove, the epic is played out over four hours, so go in an emotionally raw state and you may leave in pieces. In Dutch. Stadsschouwburg, 19.30, €25
Der Hund, see Thursday
STAGE Thursday 16 November Theatre: Scènes uit een huwelijk A stage adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s mini-series/film Scenes From a Marriage, about a couple—Marianne and Johan—whose relationship slowly disintegrates into divorce. Played by Toneelgroep Amsterdam and
Comedy: Greg Shapiro’s Going Dutch From Amsterdam improv theatre Boom Chicago, Greg Shapiro and musician David Schmoll present Shapiro’s long-awaited solo show. Embracing audience interaction, songs and monologues, the comedian explores what it means to be a Dutch-American citizen. And this run packs an additional punch, turning its gaze to election time. In English. Sugar Factory, 21.00, €10 Performance: Breakin’ Walls The sixth edition of this all-round performance festival that’s made for youngsters by youngsters. Spread across the halls of Frascati, De Brakke Grond, De Engelenbak and Het Compagnietheater, over the next few days you can expect a vibrant collection of national and international dance performances, live music, theatre, stand-up comedy, spoken word, art installations and club nights. See www.breakinwalls.nl. In Dutch. Various locations, times and prices
16-22 November 2006 Festival: Black Magic Woman Festival Ten days of soul food, music, literature, debates, performances and sisterhood, spread across a diverse array of theatres, galleries and libraries in Amsterdam. See www.blackmagicwomanfestival.nl. Various locations, times and prices
Friday 17 November Theatre: Scènes uit een huwelijk (See Thursday) Stadsschouwburg, 19.30, €25 Theatre: Quarantaine (See Thursday) Het Rozentheater, 20.00, €12.50 Comedy: Comedytrain (See Thursday) Toomler, 20.30, €13.50 Music/Theatre: The Impresario Mozart’s opera, as performed by puppets. For adults and older kids. Amsterdams Marionetten Theater, 20.30, €12 Music/Theatre: De Dienstmeid Zerline (See Thursday) Theater Bellevue, 20.30, €16.50 Theatre: Gutsman (See Thursday) Melkweg Theater, 20.30, €9 Comedy: easyLaughs Comedy improv in English. Two different shows every Friday night. Crea Muziekzaal, 20.30, €8, 22.30, €5 (late night) Comedy: Greg Shapiro’s Going Dutch (See Thursday) Sugar Factory, 21.00, €10 Performance: Breakin’ Walls (See Thursday) Various locations, times and prices Festival: Black Magic Woman Festival (See Thursday) Various locations, times and prices
Saturday 18 November Theatre: Scènes uit een huwelijk (See Thursday) Stadsschouwburg, 19.30, €25 Theatre: Quarantaine (See Thursday) Het Rozentheater, 20.00, €12.50 Comedy: Comedytrain (See Thursday) Toomler, 20.30, €13.50 Theatre: Improfiesta A theatresport performance by Theatersport Vereninging Amsterdam. In Dutch. Crea Theater, 20.30, €7
Shadow Festival 7 | programme | page 1 | www.shadowfestival.nl
The Shadow Festival offers documentary-makers from all over the world the chance to show their work in a personal framework, where the contact and dialogue between filmmaker and public is highly cherished. The festival focuses on the magic of the documentary; this is often found in visual imagery and creative form, rather than accenting a journalistic tone or necessarily relevant issues. In addition to the programming, lectures by individual filmmakers will examine closely special features of the genre. The festival selection aims to highlight works of both students and professionals.
21 -29 November 2006
The Shadow Festival, now in its seventh year, is an activity of the Shadow Foundation which aims to accent creative filmmaking in the Netherlands. Stefan Majakowski, festival director
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take 1 | Melkweg 19.30 Tues. November 21 and Sat. 25
The Films The featured filmmakers are present at all screenings. All films are subtitled in English.
A Alienations (Aliénations) Malek Bensmaïl / Algeria / 105 min
Melkweg 16.00 Tues. November 28
Check into the psych ward of an Algerian hospital. Through the prism of mental suffering see the difficulties psychiatrists are confronted with and, in the process, a country’s slow disintegration and social isolation. Today, to evoke Algeria through the metaphor of mental suffering means to point to a counterpoint of images from the media, the country’s (and those of the Maghreb’s) immense problems with regard to socio-cultural and political upheavals, economic recession, the trauma of assassinations and massacres, demographic explosion, psycho-social tension, the crisis of identity. The film is striking in its lack of sentimentality.
All Day Together (Caly dzien razem) Marcin Koszalka / Poland / 25 min
De Uitkijk 22.00 Tues. November 28
Two blokes from Poland arrive at the house of a Japanese woman who is always busy - or never there. All efforts to establish contact result in comic misunderstanding, because both subject and director speak an amusingly primitive form of English. All Day Long deals with miscommu-
De Uitkijk 22.00 Mon. November 27
nication and with the process of filmmaking itself as the director finds himself with a great deal of self-irony becoming the protagonist of his own film. Koszalka’s film seeks to be amusing and seemingly nonchalant, and goes to great lengths to avoid a serious tone. But let’s not be deceived by appearances; his film also focuses on fundamentally human dramas.
C The Crowned Rat (Szczur w koronie)
A
question as old as the human race: what happens to us after death? I have found the answer. This film shows my demise during a trip to Calcutta. I die and am reincarnated as a dog—a street dog, to be exact. To make it worse, I hate dogs! Dog is a humorous film about India which doesn’t just show pictures of hungry, begging children; nevertheless, poverty is a defining part of India, which cannot be ignored—especially by the Western eyes of a foreigner. Using comic and absurd elements, the film still manages to show the often harsh reality of life in Calcutta.
Jacek Blawut / Poland / 47 min
De Uitkijk 22.00 Tues. November 28
This is the story of the friendship between Jacek Blawut, the filmmaker, and thirty-year-old Michal, an alcoholic. It is a film about co-dependence, about the hope and the powerlessness that Michal has experienced, and it is also about the delirious ‘crowned rat’ of the title, which is forever tightening its noose. Drinking, sobering up, drinking again… and so on, and so on, until the bitter end. A wry film that preserves the humane spirit at all times.
D Dog Daniel Lang / Germany / 9 min
The Drift (Dérive) Vanessa Springora & Camilla MoraScheihing / France / 52 min
De Uitkijk 22.00 Thurs. November 23
T
he film’s origins: When we discovered five years ago that one of our childhood friends had been living for months on the streets begging for money, we were staggered. We learned that he had left everything— his family, his friends, his studies and his apartment in the Parisian Quartier Latin neighbourhood—to wander on the city’s pavements. As a brilliant and reserved boy from a privileged background, nothing predisposed him to this situation. The shock of the news mixed in with incomprehension and a feeling of panic; we first needed to understand. Where to begin? The film evokes the friend through the places of his past and his
imagined present. A magical simplicity makes an unexpected statement about our time.
The Duckling (Ahiru no ko) Sayaka Ono / Japan / 75 min
Melkweg 19.30 Thurs. November 23 Melkweg 16.00 Tues. November 28
W
hen Sayaka was five, she was sent by her parents to live and work in an institution, where she was treated badly by the teachers. Now 20, and crippled by poor self-esteem, she turns the camera on herself, her seemingly happy family and other former pupils of the institution. The rawness and intensity of this confessional diary occasionally make it hard to watch—Ono’s turmoil as she confronts her demons is obviously genuine. But this is a compelling glimpse into Japanese repression, memory and the need to re-open old wounds. The film seeks out the frontiers of both the documentary as genre and that of self-expression.
E
Easy Rijders Ane Ose / The Netherlands / Norway / 15 min
Melkweg 16.00 Thurs. November 23
A
msterdam through the eyes of five pizza deliverers. Given the chance to film themselves, Rachid, Murat, Gahlid, Appo and Deniz show they’re more than the stereotype of second-generation immigrant scooter maniacs. ‘My biggest inspiration in making a film about pizza deliverers was the
Shadow Festival 7 | programme | page 2 | www.shadowfestival.nl pure fact that they pissed me off. Going around by bike in Amsterdam is to gamble with your life: I’ve been nearly run over by a number of these scooter maniacs on a weekly basis. So I decided to get to know them better.’
H Hallelujah! Sekula’s Lottery of the Sea, from bones and screws to the World Monetary Fund Melkweg 19.30 Sun. November 26
Jochen Hick / Germany / 5 min
G
I The Intimacy of Strangers Eva Weber / UK / 20 min
De Uitkijk 22.00 Thurs. November 23
De Uitkijk 22.00 Weds. November 29
“I would love to meet you for a quickie…” Eavesdropped mobile phone conversations of strangers in entirely public spaces construct a story of love, loss and hope. We no longer have rows, or swear ever-lasting love in the privacy of our own homes; we now share these intimate moments with everybody around us on the way to work. ‘I first had the idea when the war on Iraq was declared. My original intention was to make a film shot entirely on the day Britain went to war. By listening in on people’s conversations, I was hoping to get an insight into their fears and worries at that moment in time.’
Easy Rijders, An ode to the trials and tribulations of the pizza delivery boy
J
Melkweg 16.00 Thurs. November 23
Jean Genet in Chicago Frédéric Moffet / Canada / USA / 25 min
Melkweg 19.30 Fri. November 24 Melkweg 19.30 Weds. November 29
I
Omnipotent: many cooked gooses make one pile of feathers Melkweg 16.00 Fri. November 24
Ticket Information: Prices
Reduction
Film
€ 5,-
€ 4,-
Lecture
€ 4,-
€ 3,-
Vijfrittenkaart (5 films): Prices Film
€ 20,-
Reduction € 15,-
Reservations: (Melkweg) 020 531 74 60 Uitkijk) 020bones 623 74 60 Sekula’s Lottery(De of the Sea, from and screws to the World Monetary Fund
Reduced Prices are available with CJP, Stadspas / Student Card / Off Screen-card / NFTVM-card
L
De Uitkijk 22.00 Sat. November 25 Melkweg 19.30 Weds. November 29 ay and straight Christians await the Pope’s arrival in Cologne, August 2005. If you filming, its all about where to stand – a view both hilarious and laconic.
.Pranks all year round in this East German town (not just on Halloween): Wrong Time, Wrong Place
Hezbollah, French in France. His tale à la Lord Jim unfolds, the adventures of a man who goes anywhere, since everyone takes him to be one of their own. The soft voice of a man intimately transforms the entire history of the Middle East into a few fleeting moments during the siege of Beirut and his departure on Arafat’s ship. The film is above all tribute to storytelling, pure, scintillating and by now, rare.
n this whimsical view of the 1968 National Democratic Convention, French writer Genet meets Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, the Yippies, the Black Panthers and the Chicago Police force. Sent by Esquire magazine to cover the convention, Genet’s queer rewriting of events seems contradictory and shocking; after praising and supporting the radical youth movement’s rebelliousness, he moves on to swoon over the towering men in police uniforms, acknowledging his fascination with their brute force. The film is magically saturated with images that both repulse and attract.
The Lottery of the Sea Allan Sekula / USA / 179 min
Melkweg 19.30 Sun. November 26
I
n 1776 Adam Smith compared the life of the seafarer to gambling. Notions of risk were introduced through an allegory of the sea’s dangers, especially for those who did the hard work, and those who invested in ships and goods. This offbeat diary traces the “innocent” summer of 2001 through to the current “war on terror”. On a journey from seaport to seaport and coast to coast, the film unfolds as a panoramic adventure. We cross the globe with a filmmaker who is armed with a good sense of irony, personal convictions, and relentless curiosity regarding everything around him - from people to power structures.
N The New West (Het Nieuwe Westen) Luuk Bouwman / The Netherlands / 58 min
Melkweg 16.00 Thurs. November 23
F
ollow Fred Gijsbers, a member of the Pim Fortuyn Party, to the Czech Republic and watch him deal with the town Mayor and day-laborers as he tries to make a fresh start. After losing his unemployment benefits back home and his belief in Dutch citizen’s rights, Gijsbers bids farewell to Holland and decides to develop a camping ground in Eastern Europe. With his son-in-law doing the filming, this slice of life can’t fail to be anything but painfully personal. Holland used to be a country with stable and boring politics. Fortuyn came along and stimulated the pioneer spirit in people like Fred. Screening to be followed by a discussion with filmmakers Thomas Doebele and Maarten Schmidt, Commissioning Editors VPRO Television
O Odessa Leonardo di Costanzo & Bruno Oliviero / Italy / France / 67 min
in Naples. The endless waiting is punctuated by death, and even the debts accumulated by the families back in the Ukraine. A mysterious existence is captured in this quiet testimonial.
Oliva Oliva Peter Hoffmann / Germany / France / 68 min
Melkweg 19.30 Mon. November 27
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rmed with a Super 8 camera, Hoffmann shot the film entirely on his own. Meeting up with the Oliva family in Spain’s Extremadura, he hoped to film the traditional harvest of honey. But day by day, a burlesque adventure is transformed into a road movie, crossing the most remote part of Spain, evoking images of Bunuel. The filmmaker manages to make it through the height of summer, never once pretending to be accepted by this family whose survival depends on beekeeping. A stark and stunning film built on an original aesthetic sense. Proof that video still hasn’t conquered all.
Omnipotent (Omnis) Gülseli Bille Baur / Germany / 9 min
Melkweg 16.00 Fri. November 24
T
housands of birds sacrifice their lives for man’s sweet dreams. Short, gruesome, disturbing, and oddly metaphysical, Omnipotent is a mechanical and rigorous exploration of how - exactly - down makes its way from geese to pillows and jackets ‘When the shooting began we were going to make a portrait of the universe. We were looking for a metaphor for the soul and came upon feathers - first part of the body, then later able to fly. So we started to follow the feather, from the goose’s body to man’s pillow…’
P People in Order Lenka Clayton & James Price / UK / 6 min
Melkweg 19.30 Tues. November 21 Melkweg 19.30 Sat. November 25 De Uitkijk 22.00 Mon. November 27
S
omehow 471 British citizens become more than statistics in these four short films focused on arrangement: of a person at every age between one and a hundred, of 34 women from four to 41 weeks pregnant, of 48 couples according to the length of their relationships and of 73 households in descending order of yearly income. The people on the screen stop us from seeing them as numbers. Even in single-second bursts there are worlds of personality stretching out in front of us. Here are documentary jewels, not a minute too short, or too long.
Melkweg 16.00 Sat. November 25
A Jew in the Water (Un Juif à la Mer) Yolande Zauberman / France / 65 min
De Uitkijk Fri. 22.00 November 24 Melkweg Sun. 16.00 November 26
T
he most unusual of portraits, that of Sélim Nassib. He’s Zelig in the Middle East, an Arab among the Arabs, a Jew among the Jews, Lebanese for the Palestinians, Syrian for the Syrians, Iranian among the
This extraordinary testimonial of a chapter of Soviet history is told through the reconstruction of the memories of a group of sailors abandoned on the ship Odessa, which was moored in the port of Naples for five years. The film grasps what this ‘ghost’ crew has been through: the cold, the heat, the hunger, the tempests, the solidarity of the harbour people and of Ukrainian immigrants
Perpetual Movements—a CineTribute to Carlos Paredes (Movimentos Perpétuos—Cine-Tributo a Carlos Paredes) Edgar Pêra / Portugal / 68 min
Melkweg 19.30 Tues. November 28
C
arlos Paredes is the most outstanding composer and player of Portuguese guitar. Rather than the screening of endless performances,
Shadow Festival 7 | programme | page 3 | www.shadowfestival.nl like many films on music, the film is a veritable celebration of creative editing. Pêra treats us to a complete spectrum of styles and editing techniques, images both exotic and familiar. There are oddly only a few scenes where we see Paredes (and these will be cherished). A demonstration of the magical relationship between music and the cinematic image. The soundtrack features music from Paredes’ first full concert, Oporto in 1984.
Postcards from the Continent: Miss Helga Almond Prosper de Roos / the Netherlands / 2 min
De Uitkijk 22.00 Weds. November 29
L
ike little hallucinations that visit you at deserted bus terminals or while staring into a lukewarm coffee, this ultra short-film makes you drift for a moment in space. And, if that’s not enough, learn all about the correct spelling of secret security codes in a matter of minutes.
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awareness, passion and intelligence about some of the harshest aspects of life for youngsters. A frank confrontation!
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take 1 William Greaves / USA / 73 min
Melkweg 19.30 Tues. November 21 Melkweg 19.30 Sat. November 25
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he life of the rebellious Sixties is captured in this cinema-verité shot at New York’s Central Park in 1968. A metaphor for revolution, the entire film follows actors who are apparently involved in the shooting of a feature film. As the actors and crew get gradually more irritated with the director, the cameras keep rolling, capturing the various altercations between crew members, cast and director. The whole style recalls Casavetes and Godard and balances delicately between fiction and reality, even as a local tramp decides to try to take over the center stage. The film’s ultimate secret must be seen to be believed.
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To Think Things You Don’t Want To (Att tänka tankar man inte vill tänka)
Silence II (Cisza II) Magdalena Kowalczyk, Anna Skorupa & Marcin Sauter / Poland / 9 min
De Uitkijk 22.00 Fri. November 24 Melkweg 16.00 Sun. November 26
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ouching and profound short films comes from the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing. We are treated to visual haiku of the highest order, the whole world contained in a few short moments. The films were the result of a school exercise, in this case a very pleasurable one.
Standard Bastard Milan Balog / Slovakia / 29 min
Melkweg 19.30 Weds. November 29
Joanna Rytel / Sweden / 22 min
Melkweg 19.30 Fri November 24 Melkweg 16.00 Mon. November 27
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ntense, deliberately strong and dealing with the sensitive subject of racism, this film is a journey inside a white Swedish woman’s head as she gets to know, falls in love with, has sex with, then splits up with a black man. It’s a wander through the underworld of thoughts—the ones on the other side of political correctness. Told in a diary format, the film exposes our common fears and the barriers that hinder us. Gradually and boldly, Rytel reveals to us that we are all at once abusers and victims of our social preconceptions.
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ne man listens to the hundreds of bug taps still hidden away in Slovak flats, hotels and churches after the fall of Communism. He untangles their sounds to find his own harmony. Here is an enigmatic trip, partly to the communist past, partly into the future. And for those who can see it, there is a touch of Tarkovski. ‘As an inhabitant of the Slovak republic, I needed to visualize relics of the past which are still present. In a really young country with a heritage of fifty years of communism, it’s not easy to overcome this long-standing deformity, and you can see it everywhere—slightly hidden under a slowly settling democracy’
Surrey Girls Chloe Ruthven / UK / 15 min
Melkweg 19.30 Weds. November 22 Melkweg 19.30 Fri November 24
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ive teenage girls from a pupil referral unit talk frankly about sex, drugs and their ideal man. It may seem at first like all fun and games, but we get a glimpse of the real stories of abuse, teenage pregnancy and suspension from school. These girls have in all respects fallen through the net, and will like their parents be an ongoing financial drain on the welfare system. Surrey Girls is a testament of their world. They talk with self-
U The Unkosher Truth (Ha’emet halo kshera)
restored version of this audiovisual installation conceived in 1985. Madame Edwarda, an erotic novel by Geroges Bataille, forms the literary basis for this exposé on the perversity of political power. The unique journey uses disparate images, from the Paris riots in 1968, to the abandoned coal mines of Northern France. This experiment succeeds in combining social commentary with the infamously pornographic aspects of Bataille’s literature. Followed by a discussion with Bas Vroege (Paradox) and Frits Gierstberg (Netherlands Fotomuseum) on the project and its reconstruction.
Surrey Girls, Not just sex and drugs, what’s your idea of a perfect man? Melkweg 19.30 Weds. November 22 and Fri. November 24
Who is Dimitris Houliarakis? Magnus Bärtås / Sweden / 10 min
De Uitkijk 22.00 Sat November 25
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n obsession with numbers, an airplane crash that wiped out an entire football team and his own statements about being a young film student in Lodz, Poland, tell this microstory in an attempt to convey who Dimitris Houliarakis is. Filmmaker Bärtås fills 10 minutes with an entire lifetime, and an emotional spectrum from tragic to hilarious. Houliarakis, a journalist and poet living in Athens, collects portraits of Admiral Nelson. Bärtås is the master of minimal.
Michael Pilz’ magical Accross the River Melkweg 14.00 Thurs. November 23
Wrong Time, Wrong Place (Zur Falschen Zeit Am Falschen Ort) Tamara Milosevic / Germany / 60 min
De Uitkijk 22.00 Weds. November 29
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otzlow, Brandenburg, 450 inhabitants, July 2002: 16-year-old Marinus is tortured, killed and buried in a septic tank by three youths. At first the filmmaker seeks to learn from the local villagers how such a crime could happen, but soon another story takes shape – that of Matthias, Marinus’ friend. He dropped out of school and in spite of depression, he’s on the road back. An intimate glimpse of life in an East German village; the young director achieves what every seasoned filmmaker dreams of – trust.
Girls have fun and betel nuts in The Yellow Box Melkweg 19.30 Weds. November 22 De Uitkijk 22.00 Mon. November 27
Chana Zalis / Israel / 35 min
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De Uitkijk 22.00 Sat November 25 Melkweg 16.00 Mon November 27
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ilm student Chana Zalis is ready to rid her life of a secret: she’s going tell her father that her boyfriend is not Jewish and is…… German. Her father is a rabbi, and chaplain in the US Army. Chana does her best to strengthen her bond with her father. But what will happen when he discovers the truth about this? This unusual debut film displays humor, and daring in a situation that any filmmaker would find hard to keep under control. Full of painful bitter-sweet confrontations between father and daughter it’s hard to imagine how the filmmaker kept her cool in order to finish the superb editing.
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The Yellow Box Ting-Fu Huang / Taiwan / 53 min
Melkweg 19.30 Weds. November 22 De Uitkijk 22.00 Mon. November 27
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ou can see betel nut stands almost everywhere you go in Taiwan. These cage-like spaces made of transparent glass arouse the desire to buy—as well as other desires. Betel nut girls combine selling with showing off their bodies to attract more customers, taking the function of the vendor to its limits. The girls are expected to be young and pure - Taiwanese men who like women to be like that, and they waste their youth trapped for up to 12 hours a day in their neon prisons, with just a stereo, a table and chair and a mirror.
Langan’s Afghan Ladies Driving School (lecture) Melkweg 14.00 Sun. November 26
The Wars (De Oorlogen) Oscar van Alphen / The Netherlands/ 30 min
Melkweg 16.00 Fri November 24
Premiere of the reconstructed and
Listening for Communist remains in Standard Bastard Melkweg 19.30 Weds. November 29
Shadow Festival 7 | programme | page 4 | www.shadowfestival.nl
Tue 21 November MELKWEG
Wed 22 November
Thu 23 November
Fri 24 November
Sat 25 November
19:30 - Surrey Girls - The Yellow Box
14:00 - Lecture by Michael Pilz 16:00 - Easy Rijders - The New West
14:00 - Lecture by Pieter Verhoeff 16:00 - Omnipotent - The Wars
14:00 - Lecture by Catherine Rascon & Leonardo di Costanzo 16:00 - Odessa
19:30 - The Duckling
19:30 - People in Order - Symbiopsychotaxiplasm:Take 1
22:00 - The Intimacy of Strangers - The Drift
19:30 - To Think Things You don’t want to - Jean Genet in Chicago - Surrey Girls 22:00 - Silence II - A Jew in the Water
For afterparty on 22 November, see www.shadowfestival.nl
19:30 - People in Order - Symbiopsychotaxiplasm:Take 1 DE UITKIJK
MELKWEG
Sun 26 November
Mon 27 November
Tue 28 November
Wed 29 November
14:00 - Lecture by Sean Langan 16:00 - Silence II - A Jew in the Water 19:30 - The Lottery of the Sea
14:00 - Lecture by Allan Sekula 16:00 - To Think Things You don’t want to - The Unkosher Truth 19:30 - Oliva Oliva
14:00 - Lecture by Malek Bensmaïl 16:00 - Alienations
14:00 - Lecture by Pedro Costa 16:00 - The Duckling 19:30 - Standard Bastard - Hallelujah! - Jean Genet in Chicago 22:00 - Postcards from the Continent : Miss Helga Almond - Wrong Time, Wrong Place
22:00 - People in Order - Dog - The Yellow Box
DE UITKIJK
Lectures by Filmmakers Allan Sekula: Faith and the Image United States
Melkweg 14.00 Mon November 27
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s a photographer, Allan Sekula is at the vanguard of critical visual arts. Having recently migrated to documentary filmmaking, Sekula brings fresh ideas to the genre. As his photography deals with broad issues of industrial and city life, his film work aims to balance individuals’ experiences with the question of global power structures. In his recent film Gala, he juxtaposes the innocence of young ushers and waiters at a Hollywood social event with the automated nonchalance of the L.A. in-crowd. In discussing his quite conscious approach to documentary filmmaking, Sekula will discuss popular misconceptions about the role of the filmmaker and will deal with the relationships between documentary and reality shows on television. In the end we will have to face the question: do we really have faith at all in what images show us? Sekula will show excerpts from various works.
Malek Bensmaïl: Cinema and Politics Algeria
Melkweg 14.00 Tues. November 28
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orn Algeria in 1966, Bensmail went to Paris to study cinema then to St Petersburg to train at the Lenfilm studios. His films deal with Algerian topics, but are fascinating in their ability to be intensely cinematic, avoiding a journalistic or otherwise instructive tone. The filmmaker will discuss his method in reaching an particularly broad audience, one that may not at all interested in the political and social upheaval in Algeria. Bensmail can be compared to Nichoals Philibert (Etre et Avoir) regarding his talent for creating beautiful cinema while touching intimately upon sensitive social issues. Here is a total lack of slogans or simplistic political criticism, as the filmmaker opts for a balance with
19:30 - Perpetual Movements - A cinetribute to Carlos Paredes 22:00 - All Day Together - The Crowned Rat
22:00 - Who is Dimitris Houliarakis? - Hallelujah! - The Unkosher Truth
All lectures last approx 90 min.
elements of his craft - superb lighting and camera work. The discussion with Malek Bensmail will be lead by Professor Patricia Pisters of the Department of Media and Culture, University of Amsterdam. Excerpts from various films will be shown.
Pedro Costa: a meeting with the cineaste and two new works
categorized: just when we think he is a great observer of real life, he hits us with the sheer beauty of the image, often thanks to lighting or the subtlest movement of the camera. This balance between the evident and the artistic places Pilz in the company of filmmakers such as Johan van der Keuken and Chris Marker. The filmmaker will discuss his approach and show excerpts from various films.
Portugal
Melkweg 14.00 Weds. November 29
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he Portuguese cineaste continues to surprise even the Cannes-public with his films that mix documentary and fiction. In this lecture he will present and discuss two new works. Minino Macho, Minino Femea: “This film involves a double-projection of a series of long shots filmed while I was making No quarto da Vanda (In Vanda’s Room) in the Fontaínhas neighbourhood in Lisbon.” Costa divides the projection between images of interiors and exteriors This offers a unique opportunity of a dual vision showing what is happening inside and out . 6 Bagatelas: These are six little ‘divertimentos’
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eaturing Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub about love, politics, cats, dogs and cinema. With a little help from Anton Webern.
A meeting with Michael Pilz Austria
Melkweg 14.00 Thurs. November 23
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or thirty years Michael Pilz has been one of the driving forces behind the new Austrian film. Although his subjects are usually vast – the metropolis of New York or the Siberian winter, he is always quietly in control of the image. At a time when documentaries rely heavily on the simple registering of facts and informative interviews, Pilz offers an intimate sense of the places he has chosen without journalistic explanations. This filmmaker refuses to be
Ateliers Varan : Speakers Catherine Rascon and Leonardo di Costanzo (France)
Melkweg 14.00 Sat November 25
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teliers Varan in Paris was established by the legendary director of cinema vérité and ethnographic films, Jean Rouch (1917-2004). For twenty years they have been training filmmakers to make films in ‘direct cinema’ style, expressing everyday reality and cultural identities, using practice-based teaching methods. Editor Catherine Rascon and director Leonardo di Costanzo, both instructors, will discuss their approach to documentary filmmaking using excerpts from various films – for example films recently made in a workshop in Georgia. Varan organizes workshops in Vietnam, Laos, Romania and Bolivia. ‘Directing is not only a matter of intelligence, craftsmanship, aesthetical judgement or technical skill but also a matter of ethics. Rather than remaining a distant observer, the film-maker will prefer to try and find his place among the people he is filming, fully respecting them’ (Ateliers Varan)
thought the idea of teaching women how to drive was ‘satanic’, but Mr Mamozai’s school now has more than 200 female graduates. Most of the instructors are ex-Taliban and they do not really think women should drive at all. I had overlooked how nothing is ever easy for women in Afghanistan. Even something so simple as taking a test. I watched as Roya walked towards the test car. A long line of men had gathered by the side of the road. As she walked slowly along the line, her head bowed down, she heard the whispers of invective and abuse.’ From November 2003 to February 2004, Langan lived in the notorious Sunni Triangle, which includes Fallujah, Baghdad and towns such as Ramadi. Investigating what life is really like, Langan gets extraordinary access, moving between resistance fighters, the American troops, and Iraqi civilians. In the documentary Mission Accomplished: Langan in Iraq, interviews with ex-prisoners and their families outside the notorious Abu Ghraib prison make allegations of sexual torture long before anything was widely reported in the news. “I like to let the film take a more natural course and be influenced by events on the ground. I also let people speak for themselves, and if there’s ever any message, it’s theirs – not mine.”’ Sean Langan shows excerpts and discusses his filmaking.
Sean Langan: Our Man in Afghanistan and Iraq Melkweg 14.00 Sun November 26
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angan has made his name by travelling to many of the world’s trouble-spots armed with just a camera. On his recent film ‘Afghan Ladies’ Driving School’: ‘The Taliban Apotheek Koek Schaeffer & Tijen
Amsterdam Weekly
16-22 November 2006
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Music/Theatre: De Dienstmeid Zerline (See Thursday) Theater Bellevue, 20.30, €16.50 Theatre: Gutsman (See Thursday) Melkweg Theater, 20.30, €9 Festival: Black Magic Woman Festival (See Thursday) Various locations, times and prices
Sunday 19 November Music/Theatre: De Dienstmeid Zerline (See Thursday) Theater Bellevue, 15.00, €16.50 Music/Dance: Wonderland With the dancers Makiko Ito, Alexandra Manasse and Sylvain Meret. Music from Colin McLean and Hilary Jeffrey. OT301, 16.00, €4 Theatre: Gutsman (See Thursday) Melkweg Theater, 16.00, €9 Festival: Black Magic Woman Festival (See Thursday) Various locations, times and prices
Monday 20 November Dance: Oak Sacre A dance concert inspired by the compositions of Stravinsky and Bach, performed by Beppie Blankert and Bianca van Dillen, and featuring internationally acclaimed piano duo Gerard Bouwhuis and Cees van Zeeland. Theater Bellevue, 20.30, €17.50 Festival: Black Magic Woman Festival (See Thursday) Various locations, times and prices
Tuesday 21 November Dance: Oak Sacre (See Monday) Theater Bellevue, 20.30, €17.50
Wednesday 22 November Festival: RISK: At the Crossroads of Body and Object Opening night of five-days celebrating visual theatre, offering recent works from the field of Dutch and Flemish puppet and object theatre. The opening workshop and performance double bill features the work of Claire Heggen, joint artistic leader of the Théâtre du Mouvement in Paris. See www.ostadetheater.nl. In English. Ostadetheater, 20.00, €16 day pass, €50 festival pass
Jasmijn Visser (Happy Hour), see: Openings
ART Opening De Salon An annual tradition whereby resident artists get to show off their latest works from various disciplines within the visual arts. New this year is an invitation to the British artist association The London Group, so eight talented Brits are found leading the way. Arti et Amicitiae (Tues-Sun 13.00-18.00), opens Thursday, until 10 December Afrika A new permanent collection of artefacts from the continent of Africa. Divided into the five themes of ‘Status’, ‘Faith’, ‘Masquerade’, ‘Form’ and ‘Contact’, the exhibition embraces a cultural spectrum from some 20 countries, ranging from ritual images and masks, to utensils, street art and fashion. Tropenmuseum (Daily 10.00-17.00), opens Friday If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution The famous quote by anarchist Emma
Goldman is the departure point of this travelling visual arts collection. This year’s programme borrows from the language of dance, music, theatre and archived visual material to create a series of performances rethinking the representation of women today. From there, the programme examines the legacies and potentials of feminism and the ‘political body’ from a variety of contemporary artistic positions. De Appel (Tues-Sun 11.00-18.00), opens Friday, until 14 January 2007 Wu Zhi Aquarelles and mixed media by the Chinese artist now resident in the Netherlands. Painting her portraits in one quick movement, she steers her watercolours via a refined mix of Western techniques and Chinese ink and calligraphy styles. Galerie Libbe Venema (Thur-Sat 14.00-18.00), opens Friday, until 25 November Andreas Gefeller: Supernatural Large-scale abstract photographs by the German artist. Dubbelbee Galerie (Wed-Sat 12.00-17.30), opens Saturday, until 22 December Happy Hour Group exhibition featuring works by Jan Pieter Fokkens, Daniel Hofstede, Sander Reijgers and Jasmijn Visser. De Praktijk (Mon-Sat 13.00-18.00) opens Saturday until 23 December Michael Jacklin Small images by the Amsterdam-
based artist. Slewe Gallery (Tues-Sat 13.00-18.00), opens Saturday Redux Featuring works by Piet Dirkx, Sef Peeters, Hans van den Ban and Roger van Hout. P/////AKT (Thur-Sun 14.00-18.00), opens Saturday, until 10 December The Clouds Are More Beautiful From Above Guido van der Werve’s two films are concerned with ardent ambition that is doomed to failure. Number Six couples Van der Werve’s characteristically sombre narrative with romantic classical music, and Number Seven charts an experiment in which a rocket is used to shoot a meteorite back into space. Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam (Tues-Sun 11.00-17.00), opens Sunday, until 31 December
Museums Fly Me to the Moon For once not taking itself too seriously, the Rijksmuseum presents one of its oldest and previously unseen items, a moon rock. This allows Rotterdam art duo Liesbeth Bik and Jos van der Pol to pose some unusual questions, such as: will they open a branch of the museum on the moon? Rijksmuseum (Daily 09.00-18.00), closing Sunday
18 Janet Cardiff: Forty Part Motet An adaptation of Spem in Alium nunquam habui by the English Renaissance composer Thomas Tallis, this impressive 40 speaker sound sculpture by the acclaimed Canadian artist is fresh from the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and will dazzle your ears and mind wherever you position yourself. CoBrA Museum (Tues-Sun 11.0017.00), closing Sunday Hellen van Meene Following up her photographic portrait series of teenagers—most of whom she already knew from her own surroundings—Van Meene spent four years travelling to Japan, England, Germany, Latvia and Russia to find new models for portraits. Huis Marseille (Tues-Sun 11.00-18.00), until 26 November 15 Years: Collection Retrospetive of the museum’s last decade and a half. Jan van der Togt Museum (Thur-Sun 13.00-17.00), Amstelveen, until 26 November
Amsterdam Weekly Nationaal Herbarium of the Universiteit Leiden. Hortus Botanicus (Mon-Fri 09.00-17.00, Sat, Sun 10.0005.00), until 1 December The Earth from Above Outdoor exhibition featuring the famous aerial photography of Yann ArthusBertrand, whose images last stopped off in Amsterdam in 2003. Since, the collection has been renewed with the addition of 90 new photos. Stopera (Daily), until 3 December
Koninklijke Prijs The annual arts prize sponsored by the Royal Family is back. This year the four artists whose paintings have made it through to the final are Antione Berghs, Wouter Kalis, Lucy Stein and Anneke Wilbrink. Gemeentemuseum (Tues-Sun 11.00-17.00), Den Haag, until 3 December
Rembrandt and Uylenburgh: Dealing in Masterpieces Featuring 20 masterpieces by Rembrandt, this exhibition aims to uncover a little-known aspect of his life: collaboration with art dealer Uylenburgh. Rembrandthuis (Mon-Sat 10.00-17.00, Sun 11.00-17.00), until 10 December
Docking Station A new project space for contemporary art which will house a fresh exhibition every five weeks. Californian-born and London-based artist Daria Martin will inaugurate the space with her film installations ‘In the Palace’ and ‘Wintergarden’, paying particular homage to the idealistic avant-garde art and architecture of the 20th century. Stedelijk Museum CS (Fri-Wed 10.00-18.00), until 26 November Botanical Prints Beautiful watercolour and ink drawings by Anita Walsmit Sachs, a botanical artist at the
Rembrandt en de bijbel More Rembrandt: this time all his etches of Biblical scenes and characters. Bijbels Museum (Mon-Sat 10.00-17.00, Sun 11.00-17.00), until 10 December Tino Sehgal A presentation of recent acquisition Instead of allowing some thing to rise up to your face dancing bruce and dan and other things, a live performance piece. Stedelijk Museum CS (Fri-Wed 10.00-18.00), until 10 December Trent Parke Considered one of the most innovative and challenging young urban photographers of his generation, Parke now moves into colour. The exhibition presents an exciting opportunity to see how the Australian artist best known for his black-and-white
expect to be transformed into a cybernetic nocturnal animal, build robots at a garden robot production studio, wander through a digital alter-garden, learn the science of mating calls, experience psycho-chemical garden furniture and eat at a restaurant prototype that serves over 30 sorts of sprouted micro-greens. Mediamatic (Thur-Sun 18.00-23.00), until 7 January 2007 13th Joop Swart Masterclass: ‘Risk’ The best of the participants from the prestigious World Press Photo masterclass. Foam (Sun-Wed 10.00-17.00, Thur, Fri 10.00-21.00), until 7 January 2007
Voici Magritte Grand exhibition showing paintings, drawings, gouaches and collages by Belgian supersurrealist Magritte, including some of his most important works. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Tues-Sat 10.00-17.00, Sun 11.00-17.00), Rotterdam, until 3 December
De Letters van Sinterklaas It’s time to get festive and learn about the edible traditions of Sinterklaas. Letter designer Gerard Unger explores the roots and developments of such tasty treats over the years. Amstelkring (Mon-Sat 10.00-17.00, Sun 13.00-17.00), until 6 December
Wintergarden (Docking Station)
images responds to a more pigmented view of the world. Foam (Sun-Wed 10.00-17.00, Thur, Fri 10.0021.00), until 10 December
16-22 November 2006
The Vincent 2006 Showcasing works of the five nominees for The Vincent van Gogh Biennial Award for Contemporary Art in Europe. Stedelijk Museum CS (FriWed 10.00-18.00), until 14 January 2007 Trent Parke The Kate Show Artists from different disciplines show works inspired by supermodel, style icon and muse Kate Moss. Foam (Sun-Wed 10.00-17.00, Thur, Fri 10.00-21.00), until 14 December Alex Kals: Les Quartiers Nord de Marseille Inspired by French hiphop music, Alex Kals’ fascination with Marseille’s dangerous northern suburbs resulted in a photographic series about youths living in a hopeless situation, where crime often seems the only way out. Foam (Sun-Wed 10.00-17.00, Thur, Fri 10.00-21.00), until 14 December Rembrandt’s Drawings: The Observer Part two of this study of Rembrandt’s drawings, showing how he viewed the world around him and recorded it in ink and sketches. Rijksmuseum (Daily 09.00-18.00), until 31 December Inside Iran An overview of Iranian painter Khosrow Hassanzadeh, whose works focus on political and social developments in his home country, and demonstrate a critical approach towards both Iranian state propaganda and Western prejudices about the Muslim world. Tropenmuseum (Mon-Fri 11.00-17.00, Sat, Sun 13.00-17.00), until 7 January 2007
Who Can I Trust? An exhibition on the persecution of homosexuals in Germany between 1933-1945 and also in the Netherlands during the Nazi occupation. Verzetsmuseum (Tues-Fri 10.00-17.00, Sat-Mon 12.0017.00), until 14 January 2007 De helden van het circus The circus seen through the eyes of famous artists. Paintings, drawings and prints by Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Chagall, Klee and more. Teylers Museum Tues-Sat 10.00-17.00, Sun 12.00-17.00, Haarlem, until 14 January 2007 KK Outlet To celebrate the tenth anniversary of Amsterdam communication agency KesselsKramer, the Kunsthal is presenting a retrospective of the agency’s self-willed works. With audacious and contrary advertising campaigns using numerous media channels, KesselsKramer has acquired an excellent reputation since it was established in 1996. Kunsthal (Tues-Sat 10.00-17.00, Sun 11.00-17.00), Rotterdam, until 14 January 2007 Le Nouveau Siècle Work of contemporary artists inspired by and presented in the stately mansion on Keizersgracht. Museum van Loon (Wed-Mon 11.0017.00), until 15 January 2007
Spectacular City: Photographing the Future Extraordinary photographs exploring the beauty and strangeness of our urban reality. Nederlands Architectuurinstituut (Tues-Sat 10.00-17.00), Rotterdam, until 7 January 2007
Henry Moore: And the Challenge of Architecture Showcasing the works of one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th century, the exhibition focuses on the relationship between Moore’s sculptures with architecture and urban spaces. Kunsthal (Tues-Sat 10.00-17.00, Sun 11.00-17.00), Rotterdam, until 28 January 2007
Night Garden This exhibition in the form of a subtechnical indoor garden, links new technology, nature, contemporary art and its consumption. Visitors can
Picasso: Master of Line In 1930, the world-famous artist began working on a series of prints commissioned by the Paris art dealer Ambroise Vollard. The
Amsterdam Weekly
16-22 November 2006 series spans seven years and is one of the key works of Picasso’s oeuvre. Here the complete set of 100 works, known as the Vollard Suite, can be seen in the Netherlands for the first time. CoBrA Museum (Tues-Sun 11.00-17.00), until 4 February 2007 The ‘Jewish’ Rembrandt In recent centuries a romantic myth has developed suggesting Rembrandt had a special bond with Jews. He was supposedly a good friend of the famous philosopher Spinoza and the outstanding rabbi Menasse ben Israel. Some people even discovered echoes of Jewish mysticism (kabbalah) in his paintings and references to Judaism. This exhibition will attempt to unravel this myth. Joods Historisch Museum (daily 11.00-17.00), until 4 February 2007 Facts, Fictions and Stories The first solo exhibition in the Netherlands by the South African photographers Adam Broomberg (1970) and Oliver Chanarin (1971) featuring more than 70 large photos. Their most recent work, Chicago (2006), shows various aspects of the war and propaganda in Israel, while the series Mr. Mkhize’s Portrait (2004) casts a glance at South Africa 10 years after the end of apartheid. Stedelijk Museum CS (Fri-Wed 10.00-18.00), until 25 February 2007 Collectors in St Petersburg A celebration of the cosmopolitan nature of early 20th-century St Petersburg, when the city was so prosperous that its art scene flourished and expansive collections were born. This exhibition introduces four key collectors from the period, each with their own preference for a particular school, country or period, be it ‘old masters’ or contemporary art from the mid-19th century. Hermitage Amsterdam (Daily 10.00-17.00), until 11 March 2007 French Passion During the early 20th century, private collectors in the Netherlands acquired many masterpieces by painters including Monet, Daubigny, Cézanne and other famed French artists. This exhibition provides an overview of the pieces united at the time, and explains how works from the various periods of the 19th-century French art world ultimately found a home here to later became part of the Dutch Collection. Centraal Museum (Tues-Sun 11.00-17.00), Utrecht, until 11 March 2007 Geef mij maar Amsterdam A melodious tribute to Mokum as AHM ventures into the musical past and present. From classic Amsterdam liedjes that reverberated from pub doorways to the modern beats and urban rhymes born from some of the city’s poorest districts, this is a chance to rehear some sonorant
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moments and enjoy a singalong, too. Amsterdams Historisch Museum (Mon-Fri 10.00-17.00, Sat, Sun 11.00-17.00), until 18 March 2007
Nicolas Chardon, Marijke van Warmerdam, Kristjan Gudmundsson, JCJ van der Heyden, Laboratorio Saccardi, Olivier Mosset and Myne Soe-Pedersen. Galerie van Gelder (Tues-Sat 13.00-17.30), closing Wednesday
Galleries
Unknown Borders New paintings by Johan de Jonge. Galerie Smits (Wed-Sat 13.30-17.30), closing Wednesday
Mixed Works New works by fine arts painters Lennaart Allan, Peter Dammers and Marjolein van Doorenmaalen, as well as sculptors Jaap Burger and Mirese Mudde. Kunstkerk (Thur 17.00-20.00, Sat, Sun 14.00-19.00)
Paolo Consorti: Inside the Secret Things Colourful and almost psychedelic contemporary visions from the Italian artist, who takes direct inspiration from the late-medieval paintings by Brueghel and Dante’s Divine Comedy. Studio Apart (Wed 10.00-18.00, Thur 10.00-21.00, Fri 10.00-18.00, Sat 12.00-17.00), until 23 November
Ik Geloof in de Bijlmer A multicultural exhibition that’s about the real believers and practitioners that bring religion to life. Imagine Identity and Culture (Tues, Wed, Fri, Sat 11.00-17.00, Thur 11.00-21.00), closing Saturday Iris Kensmil: The Great March Recent paintings. Galerie Ferdinand van Dieten-d’Eendt (Thur-Sat 11.0018.00), closing Saturday Judith Rosema & Ingrid Simons: Silent Witness Playful paintings by Rosema and dark, busy drawings by Simons. AYAC’S (Fri, Sat 13.00-17.30), closing Saturday Jaap van den Ende New paintings. Akinci (Tues-Sat 13.00-18.00), closing Saturday Lon Godin Videos and paintings. Reuten Galerie (Wed-Sat 13.00-18.00), closing Saturday Last Lives in the Universe Inspired by the Thai movie Last Life in the Universe from 2003, the contemporary artists featured in this exhibition are all talking about huge, overarching ideas, global politics and power games, but from a very intimate perspective. Participants include François Bucher, Rosa Barba, Claire Harvey, Sung Hwan Kim, Katya Sander and Nicholas Spratt. SMART Project Space (Wed-Sat 12.00-18.00), closing Saturday Lukasz Skapski: Machines Using 150 pictures and filmed interviews, Krakow-based artist Lukasz Skapski documents Polish farmers and the bizarre tractors they have constructed for themselves by using parts of different vehicles. Galerie Fons Welters (Tues-Sat 13.00-18.00), closing Saturday Get Going! An exhibition of drawings by Roland Sohier. During most opening hours, the artist will also be working on a site-specific mural. Artspace Witzenhausen (Thur-Sat 12.00-18.00), closing Saturday
Marlene Dumas: Man Kind A series of new paintings and drawings, with portraits of men and a skull. Galerie Paul Andriesse (Wed-Sun 13.00-17.00), until 25 November Roland Sohier (Get Going!) Blikopener Multidisciplinary ’limit-streching’ works by selected Dutch artists, including the photography of Wouter van Buuren, who climbs high-voltage electricity polls around Amsterdam and Rotterdam to take shots of the landscape, then combines the individual photos into large image. Arts-Place Fri-Sun, 12.0017.00, closing Sunday Pass the Word—Pass the Drawing There’s never been a single corner of the still fairly new Horse Move Project that could be described as stuffy. In their latest exhibition, the project people have invited everyone to take part by sending in drawings of self-selected themes. Submissions are now closed and the results are public. Horse Move Project (Fri-Sun 14.00-20.00), closing Sunday As Hard As it Can Get Spanish artist Carlos Aires presents a series of photos representing a reality that only exists on screens or in images. De Brakke Grond (Mon 10.00-18.00, Tues-Fri 10.00-20.30, Sat 13.00-20.30, Sun 13.00-17.00), closing Sunday Group Show Despite the title, this is really a solo exhibition showcasing old and new works from Amsterdam Weekly contributor Willum Geerts. Expect installations, paintings, photography and other creative outlets. Nieuwe Vide (Thur-Sun 14.00-17.00), Haarlem, closing Sunday Regarding Facts Showing works by John M Armleder,
Nik Christensen Recent works by the Brooklyn/Amsterdam-based artist. The central theme of his life-size drawings is the human struggle against the forces of nature. Galerie Gabriel Rolt (Wed-Sat 12.00-18.00), until 25 November falkeandcharlotte A collaborative project launched by Falke Pisano and Charlotte Moth (UK) uniting international artists to present individual works and share what they love most. Opening the series are pieces by Benoît Maire and Clunie Read. Ellen de Bruijne Projects/Dolores (Tues-Sat 13.00-18.00), until 25 November Laura Medler: Continuum Experimental photography from the English artist, using analogue technology in creative ways to visually transform the mundane into a new entity. OUTLINE (Thur-Sat 13.00-17.00), until 25 November Julia Münstermann: Walking on Air New paintings by the German artist, whose pictures of cityscapes by night often appear strange and unreal. Aschenbach & Hofland Galleries (Wed-Sat 12.00-17.00), until 26 November Bob Bronshoff: Mijn Beste Vriend Photographer Bob Bronshoff and journalist René Sommer present their portraits about friendship. Melkweg Galerie (Wed-Sun 13.00-20.00), until 26 November Northwest Video works by four young British females: Maud Haya-Baviera, Rose Butler, Katy Woods and Katie Davies. Consortium (Fri-Sun 14.00-18.00), until 28 November
Amsterdam Weekly
20 Claudia Hek Posters, paintings, rock ’n’ roll visions, realistic portraiture and low-brow themes that appeal to garage bands the world over. Cut the Crap (Tues, Wed, Fri, Sat 11.00-19.00, Thur 11.00-21.00), until 28 November Finger Licking Good Abstract paintings and objects by Victor Lerhard, who claims to be Amsterdam’s only working artist using only fingers, no brushes—outside of the kindergarten anyway. Artiplus Gallery (Mon-Fri 09.00-17.30, Sat 10.00-17.00), until 2 December Afstudeerprojecten Academie van Bouwkunst Students of the Academie van Bouwkunst present their graduation projects. Included are the recently announced nominees for the annual ARCHIPRIX, an award presented to the most talented design graduates. Zuiderkerk (Mon 11.00-16.00, Tues-Fri 09.00-16.00, Sat 12.00-16.00), until 2 December Leslie Browne: Rise Reggae and hiphop-inspired paintings and photos. Suzanne Biederberg Gallery (Wed-Sat 14.00-18.00), until 3 December
colourful costumes in two dimensions with materials such as rice paper, traditional prints, ink and acrylic paints. Galerie Krijger + Katwijk (Wed-Sat 12.0018.00), until 16 December Transformerhouses: Urban Renewal in the Indische Buurt This exhibition comes as a response to the current urban renewal taking place in the Indische Buurt, presenting research into urban transformations and six projects by artists and architects. 66 East (FriSun 14.00-18.00), until 16 December Natural Habitat Artists explore the boundaries between nature, culture and technology. What happens if the three come together? Is the difference between nature and technology still recognisable or do they merge into each other? Contributing groups and artists include Boredom Research, Christa Sommerer, Laurent Mignonneau, Erwin Driessens, Maria Verstappen, Evelina Domnitch and Dmitry Gelfand, among others. Montevideo/Time Based Arts (Tues-Sat 13.00-18.00), until 17 December
Krijn de Koning in the Zuidas Working with Virtueel Museum Zuidas, this site-specific installation by De Koning includes his proposals, drawings and maquettes for transforming uninteresting sites into pleasant entrances to the Zuidas area. Platform 21 (Thur-Sun 12.00-18.00), until 3 December
Transitions Part two in the series De Kleur van Iran. Photography by Hengame Golestan, who was one of the first female photographers in the country, and Newsha Tavkolian from the new generation of Iranian photographers. De Levante (Wed-Sun 13.00-17.30), until 10 December Oud-West vanuit de lucht Aerial photography of Amsterdam Oud-West by Mirande Phernambucq. The images are displayed in windows around Bellamyplein, remaining lit daily until midnight. Bellamyplein (Daily), until 12 December Can’t Join Us A photographic portrayal of the dreamworld of two Majorettes. Witte de Withstraat 89 (Wed 13.00-17.00), until 13 December Verkiezingen Preceding this month’s cabinet elections, three photographers present their view on media coverage of election campaigns, the issue of objectivity in political reporting and the role of photography. Fotogram (Mon-Fri 10.00-21.00, Sat 10.00-16.00), until 13 December Self-Deception A light installation by Marc Schoneveld. De Kijkkasten (Daily), until 13 December Militant Bourgeois: An Existentialist Retreat Following his experiments last June, Chris Evans is back to present the second part of his Militant Bourgeois concept, this time on a patch of land in the middle of a dual-carriageway road. The aim? To question whether subsidised art can be worthwhile. See www.smba.nl. Transformatorweg, until 15 December Lu Luo Recent paintings and works on paper. Chinese artist Lu Luo draws inspiration from traditional Chinese theatre and opera, recreating the highly-detailed and
Ramon Coelho (The One Minutes)
EVENTS
David Blackmore: Detox A photography documentary about the usage of blue UV lighting in semi-public spaces, such as public toilets. While the artist was drawn to the vibrancy of these vivid azure spaces, which provide a compelling sensation of calm and tranquility, it’s in stark contrast to their original intent block intravenous drug abuse within these spaces. Gallery Vassie (Tues-Sat 12.00-18.00), until 9 December With the First Totters Oil paintings by Victor Man. Annet Gelink Gallery (Tues-Fri 11.00-18.00, Sat 13.0018.00), until 9 December
16-22 November 2006
Thursday 16 November Film/Music: Crowning Party A celebration of all things surf in the heart of autumn. With live surf rock, DJs and screenings of surf movies. Bitterzoet, 20.30, €5
Elena Davidovich (Exhibition #3) Exhibition #3 Drawings and mural paintings by Elena Davidovich (Belarus), prints, drawings and live art by Dick Tuinder (US), mural drawings by Jantien Jongsma and floor sculptures by Wouter Klein Velderman. W139 (Tues-Sun 13.00-19.00), until 17 December Le Dernier Cri Exclusive silkscreen prints from Pakito Bolino, Ota Keita, Reinhard Schneibner, Fredox, Stumead and around 40 other graphic designers associated with the Marseille group. Het Illuseum (Sat, Sun 15.00-20.00), until 21 December Pablo Pijnappel Photography. Galerie Juliette Jongma (Wed-Sat 13.00-18.00, first Sun of month 14.00-17.00), until 23 December Raw Footage/Scapegoats A solo exhibition by Groningse multimedia artist Aernout Mik, this two-part video installation focuses on the experience and depiction of war, showing how normality and extremity become interwoven in wartime situations. bak (Wed-Sat 12.00-17.00, Sun 13.00-17.00), Utrecht, until 24 December Ed Dukkers, Jef Gysen Abstract paintings and drawings by Dukkers (1923-1996) and oil paintings and images by Gysen. Galerie Jos Art (Tues-Sun 11.0017.30), until 24 December Natuurlijke Chemie Outdoor exhibition showcasing the natural techniques used by Leentje van Hengel on textiles and clothing. A total of 28 cases will display her work along the route between De Waag and Nieuwe Hoogstraat. Sint Antoniesbreestraat (Daily), until 3 January 2007 ArtOlive Offline #5 A collection of paintings and bronze sculptures by Monica Rotgans in a series titled Toros y Tierras. ArtOlive (Mon-Fri 11.00-17.00, Sun 12.00-17.00), until 5 January 2007
Literature/Music: Crossing Border The annual literature and music feast is staying close to the centre of Den Haag. But don’t hold that against it, because over the next few days there are musical appearances from the likes of TV On The Radio, zZz, The Trachtenburg Family, Razorlight and Arrested Development, while the list of spoken-word stars is huge. Throw in performances, parties and some additional daytime programmes and you have a far-out festival. See full programme at www.crossingborder.nl and article on p. 11. Various locations, Den Haag, various times, €25/€28
Friday 17 November Debate: Nederland Controlestaat? A political debate about public safety in the Netherlands, and whether citizens are losing all rights to privacy. In Dutch. De Balie, 20.00, free
curating vis-à-vis globalisation. Several artists and curators will also discuss how such influences have affected their own work. In English. De Balie, 10.0023.00, €27.50 Benefit: Amsterdam Jam See Friday and Short List. Stubnitz, 21.00-05.00, €10 Festival: The One Minutes See Friday and Short List. Het Ketelhuis, various times, €8 Literature/Music: Crossing Border (See Thursday) Various locations, Den Haag, various times, €25/€28
Sunday 19 November Festival: Cannabis Cup 19 The annual drug-of-the year contest. See Short List. Various locations and times, €200 judges pass. Until Thursday 23 November Festival: The One Minutes One-minute films, six hours a day for three days. See Short List. Het Ketelhuis, various times, €8 Sint in Amsterdam A public notice for big kids—or old grumps evading the horses, Piets and sweets, not to mention crowds: Sinterklaas is arriving in Amsterdam today. Festivities begin at 11.00 as the boat departs on the Amstel, heading to the Scheepvaartmuseum for 12.00. Sint finally arrives on Dam at 13.00, moving onto Leidseplein at 14.30. The city’s Sinterklaas spirit gets in full swing now, so don’t say you weren’t warned. Various locations and times, free
Literature/Music: Crossing Border (See Thursday) Various locations, Den Haag, various times, sold out
Film/Music: Afrika+ Marking the opening weekend of the new Afrika exhibition, the Tropentheater offers up a lively multimedia programme to pick out some highlights from African musical and film culture. Performing live today is Dakar Electric, featuring percussionists El Hadji N’Diaye Rose, Frank Michiels and Geert Meert. But there’s a lot more to boot, including a selection of free events throughout the Tropenmuseum. KIT Tropentheater, 15.00, €14
Saturday 18 November
Monday 20 November
Symposium: Feminist Legacies and Potentials in Contemporary Art Practice This follow-up to a previous symposium organised by exhibition If I Can’t Dance... (opening this week at De Appel) will further articulate on the legacies and potentials of feminism in contemporary art practice. The programme includes lectures on a productive and inclusive approach in feminist theorisation, and on feminist figures in relation to contemporary art and
Discussion: Dizkuzz Music forum. Tonight is the perfect chance to ask those in the know all about how to present your music—and yourself—on stage. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 18.45, free
Benefit: Amsterdam Jam Benefit for the good ship Stubnitz. See Short List. Stubnitz, 21.00-05.00, €10 Festival: The One Minutes One-minute films, six hours a day for three days. See Short List. Het Ketelhuis, various times, €8
Discussion: Women Inc Women Inc goes Black Magic Woman this week and heads south to Imagine IC in the process. Gather for a discussion on ‘soulshopping’ led by Neske Beks. In Dutch. Imagine IC, 20.00, free
16-22 November 2006
ADDRESSES 11 Oosterdokskade 3-5, 625 5999 66 East Sumatrastraat 66, 06 4475 4773 ACU Voorstraat 71, Utrecht, 030 231 4590 Akinci Lijnbaansgracht 317, 638 0480 Amstel Taveerne Amstel 54, 623 4254 Amstelkring Oudezijds Voorburgwal 40, 624 6604 Amsterdams Historisch Museum Kalverstraat 92, 523 1822 Amsterdams Marionetten Theater Nieuwe Jonkerstraat 8 Annet Gelink Gallery Laurierstraat 187-189, 330 2066 De Appel Nieuwe Spiegelstraat 10, 625 5651 April Reguliersdwarsstraat 37, 625 9572 Arti et Amicitiae Rokin 112, 624 5134 Artiplus Gallery Sarphatistraat 730 ArtOlive Polonceaukade 17, 675 8504 Arts-Place Wibautstraat 125, 06 2420 9192 Artspace Witzenhausen Hazenstraat 60, 644 9898 Aschenbach & Hofland Galleries Bilderdijkstraat 165C, 412 1772 AYAC'S Keizersgracht 166, 638 5240 Badcuyp 1e Sweelinckstraat 10, 675 9669 bak Lange Nieuwstraat 4, Utrecht, 030 231 6125 De Balie Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 10, 553 5151 Bethaniënklooster Barndesteeg 6, 625 0078 Bijbels Museum Herengracht 366-368, 624 2436 Bimhuis Piet Heinkade 3, 788 2150 Bitterzoet Spuistraat 2, 521 3001 Blijburg Bert Haanstrakade 2004, 416 0330 Bourbon Street Leidsekruisstraat 6-8, 623 3440 De Brakke Grond Nes 45, 626 6866 Café Pakhuis Wilhelmina Veemkade 576, 419 3368 Café Sappho Vijzelstraat 103, 423 1509 Centraal Museum Nicolaaskerkhof, Utrecht, 030 236 2362 Club 8 Admiraal de Ruyterweg 56B, 685 1703 Club NL Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 169, 622 7510 CoBrA Museum Sandbergplein 1-3, Amstelveen, 547 5050 Concertgebouw Concertgebouwplein 2-6, 671 8345 Consortium Veemkade 570, 06 2611 8950 Crea Muziekzaal Turfdraagsterpad 17, 525 1400 Crea Theater Turfdraagsterpad 17, 525 1400 Cristofori Prinsengracht 581-583, 626 8485 Cut the Crap Haarlemmerplein 9, 638 4588 Desmet Studios Plantage Middenlaan 4A, 521 7100 Dominicuskerk Spuistraat 12, 624 2183 Dubbelbee Galerie Gerard Doustraat 142-144, 623 2884 Ellen de Bruijne Projects/Dolores Rozengracht 207A, 530 4994 Exit Reguliersdwarsstraat 42, 625 8788 Flex Bar Pazzanistraat 1, 486 2123 Foam Keizersgracht 609, 551 6546 Fotogram Korte Prinsengracht 33, 624 9994 Ferdinand van Dieten-d'Eendt Spuistraat 270, 626 5777 Galerie Fons Welters Bloemstraat 140, 423 3046 Galerie Gabriel Rolt Elandsgracht 34, 785 5146 Galerie Jos Art KSNM-laan 291, 418 7003 Galerie Juliette Jongma Gerard Douplein 23, 463 6904 Galerie Krijger + Katwijk Lange Leidsedwarsstraat 198-200, 627 3808 Galerie Libbe Venema Hogeweg 2A, 692 2215 Galerie Paul Andriesse Prinsengracht 116, 623 6237 Galerie Smits Fokke Simonszstraat 29, 06 43001833 Galerie van Gelder Planciusstraat 9A, 627 7419 Gallery Vassie 1e Tuindwarsstraat 16, 489 4042 Gemeentemuseum Stadhouderslaan 41, Den Haag, 070 338 1111 Hermitage Amsterdam Nieuwe Herengracht 14, 530 8751 Horse Move Project Oosterdokskade 5 Post CS Hortus Botanicus Plantage Middenlaan 2A, 625 9021 Hotel Arena ’s-Gravesandestraat 51, 850 2400 Huis Marseille Keizersgracht 401, 531 8989 Het Illuseum Witte de Withstraat 120, 770 5581
Amsterdam Weekly Imagine IC Bijlmerplein 1006-1008, 489 4866 Jan van der Togt Museum Dorpsstraat 50, Amstelveen, 641 5754 Joods Historisch Museum Jonas Daniel Meijerplein 2-4, 531 0310 Het Ketelhuis Westergasfabriek, Haarlemmerweg 8-10, 684 0090 KIT Tropentheater Mauritskade 63, 568 8711 De Kring Kleine Gartmanplantsoen 7-9, 623 6985 Kunsthal Museumpark, Westzeedijk 341, Rotterdam, 010 440 0301 Kunstkerk Prinseneiland 89, 627 1238 De Levante Hobbemastraat 28, 671 5485 Maloe Melo Lijnbaansgracht 163, 420 4592 Mediamatic Post CS, Oosterdokskade 5, 638 9901 Meervaart Meer en Vaart 300, 410 7777 Melkweg Lijnbaansgracht 234A, 531 8181 Melkweg Galerie Marnixstraat 409, 531 8181 Melkweg Theater Lijnbaansgracht 234A, 531 8181 Montevideo/Time Based Arts Keizersgracht 264, 623 7101 Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Museumpark 18-20, Rotterdam, 010 441 9400 Museum van Loon Keizersgracht 672, 624 5255 Muziekgebouw Piet Heinkade 1, 788 2010 Het Muziektheater Amstel 3, 625 5455 Nederlands Architectuurinstituut Museumpark 25, Rotterdam, 010 440 1200 Nieuwe Vide Minckelersweg 6, Haarlem, 545 1583 Noorderkerk Noordermarkt 44, 626 6436 OCCII Amstelveenseweg 134, 671 7778 Odeon Singel 460, 624 9711 OneFourOne Overtoom 141, 670 3313 Ostadetheater Van Ostadestraat 233 D, 679 5096 OT301 Overtoom 301, 779 4913 OUTLINE Oetewalerstraat 73, 693 1389 P/////AKT Zeeburgerpad 53, 06 5427 0879 Panama Oostelijke Handelskade 4, 311 8680 Paradiso Weteringschans 6-8, 626 4521 Pathé De Munt Vijzelstraat 15, 0900 1458 Patronaat Zijlsingel 2, Haarlem, 023 517 5858 Pepsi Stage ArenA Boulevard 1, 0900 0194 Pianola Museum Westerstraat 106, 627 9624 Platform 21 Prinses Irenestraat 19, 344 9449 Podium Mozaïek Bos en Lommerweg 191, 580 0380 De Praktijk Lauriergracht 96, 422 1727 PRIK Spuistraat 109, 06 4544 2321 RAI Europaplein 22, 549 1212 Rembrandthuis Jodenbreestraat 4, 520 0400 Reuten Galerie Fokke Simonszstraat 49, 620 7537 Rijksmuseum Jan Luykenstraat 1, 674 7000 Het Rozentheater Rozengracht 117, 620 7953 Sinners Wagenstraat 3-7, 620 1375 Slewe Gallery Kerkstraat 105A, 625 7214 SMART Project Space Arie Biemondstraat 107-113, 427 5953 Soho Reguliersdwarsstraat 36, 422 9936 Stadsschouwburg Leidseplein 26, 624 2311 Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam Rozenstraat 59, 422 0471 Stedelijk Museum CS Oosterdokskade 5, 573 2911 Stopera Waterlooplein 22, 551 8117 Stubnitz Odinakade, NDSM-werf Studio 80 Rembrandtplein 70, 521 8333 Studio Apart Prinsengracht 715, 422 2748 Sugar Factory Lijnbaansgracht 238, 627 0008 Suzanne Biederberg Gallery1e Egelantiersdwarsstraat 1, 624 5455 Teylers Museum Spaarne 16, Haarlem, 023 516 0960 Theater Bellevue Leidsekade 90, 530 5301 Toomler Breitnerstraat 2, 670 7400 Tropenmuseum Linnaeusstraat 2, 568 8200 Under the Grand Chapiteau Next to ArenA, 621 1288 Verzetsmuseum Plantage Kerklaan 61, 620 2535 Volta Houtmankade 334-336, 628 6429 W139 Oosterdokskade 5, sixth floor, 622 9434 Winston Kingdom Warmoesstraat 129, 623 1380 The Zebra Korte Leidsedwarsstraat 14, 330 5266 Zuiderkerk Zuiderkerkhof 72, 552 7987
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Amsterdam Weekly
22
Iron Island
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre:The Beginning
Cruisade in Jeans
The One Minutes
FILM
Edited by Julie Phillips.This week’s films reviewed by Shyama Daryanani (SD), Angela Dress (AD), Laura Groeneveld (LG), Andrea Gronvall (AG), John Hartnett (JH),Luuk van Huët (LvH),JR Jones (JJ),Anne Jongeling (AJ),Dave Kehr (DK),Steven McCarron, Marie-Claire Melzer (MM), Sharida Mohamedjoesoef, Mike Peek (MP), Julie Phillips (JP), Jonathan Rosenbaum (JR) and Bregtje Schudel (BS). All films are screened in English with Dutch subtitles unless otherwise noted.
Amsterdam Weekly recommends
Festivals The One Minutes Sixty-second films, six hours a day, for three days. See Short List. Het Ketelhuis Shadow Festival Now in its seventh year, the Shadow Festival—separate from IDFA—offers documentary makers from all over the world the chance to show their work in a personal framework, where the contact and dialogue between film-maker and public is highly cherished. Alongside the screenings are a series of lectures and discussions, letting documentary fans get up close and personal with the filmmakers. See Short List and insert. Melkweg Cinema Iran Importing four films that highlight specific changes taking place in Iran, this mini-festival features the works of innovative Iranian filmmakers who focus on small events. Each provides a real sense of the current social landscape in the country, and the bonds and divisions between the local populations.
The films are Leila, Cease Fire, Under the Moonlight and Under the Skin of the City. De Balie
New this week After the Wedding Jacob Petersen has dedicated his life to helping street children in India. When the orphanage he heads is threatened by closure, he receives an unusual offer from Danish businessman Jørgen: a donation of four million dollars. There are, however, certain conditions: not only must Jacob return to Denmark, he must also take part in the wedding of Jørgen’s daughter. This proves to be a critical juncture between past and future and catapults Jacob into the most intense dilemma of his life. In Danish with Dutch subtitles. 120 min. The Movies, Pathé Tuschinski, De Uitkijk The Black Dahlia See review on p. 25. 120 min. Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt Iron Island A fascinating allegory of modern-day Iran, this 2005 feature by Mohammad Rasoulof is set aboard an abandoned oil tanker in the Persian Gulf whose autocratic ‘captain’ (Ali Nassirian) presides over a blinkered community of homeless families. (When the children ask their schoolteacher about ‘the world’, he has to explain that they’re in it.) The captain strictly enforces traditional moral codes, and the fact that he seems motivated by expediency, not religion, provides one of the movie’s sharper edges. On the other hand, a press release cautions that the film ‘tackles issues of governance without placing liberal ideology at the center’ and ‘explores the possibility of a society uncommitted to Western traditions’. In Farsi with Dutch subtitles (JJ) 90 min. Filmmuseum The Texas Chainsaw Massacre:The Beginning This sixth entry brings the TCM franchise within shouting
distance of the nine-film Halloween and Friday the 13th cycles—but you can shout all you want, no one’s gonna help you. The demented Leatherface gets a suitably slimy genesis story: born in a slaughterhouse and plucked out of the trash by the hardscrabble Hewitt family, he finds happiness chopping beef for a living before he loses his job and goes looking for alternate slabs of meat. The balance of the movie more or less restages Tobe Hooper’s 1974 original, including its much-loved family dinner scene. (JJ) 84 min. Pathé ArenA, Pathé City, Pathé De Munt
Still playing 13 (Tzameti) Don’t stick your nose into someone
else’s business may be the moral of his noirish blackand-white thriller by director Géla Babluani. In this accomplished and tense debut film, an impoverished immigrant (George Babluani) stumbles upon a route to riches when he overhears his employer discussing a get-rich-quick scheme and acts to intercept. Only he doesn’t know the full story, instead following a series of step-by-step instructions that sends him travelling across country with strangers closely on his tail. The set-up is lengthy but carefully calculated, making the macabre plot twists all the more enjoyable. In French with Dutch subtitles. 93 min. Filmmuseum
21 Grams A movie about mortality and fate, and what happens when death decides to lay its ugly paw on people’s lives. Christina Peck (Naomi Watts) loses her children and husband in a car accident. Paul Rivers (Sean Penn) is sick and facing death. Jack Jordan (Benicio Del Toro), who caused the car accident, would rather be dead. Obviously, this is no carefree walk through the park: there’s little hope of the characters finding salvation. Director Alejandro González Iñárritu (Amores Perros) does an impressive job of
16-22 November 2006
Five-Word Movie Review
SCORCESE REFINDS HIMSELF IN HK The Departed Pathé Arena, Pathé De Munt, Pathé Tuschinski
keeping every door to false hope closed. Those with no fear of death are more likely to understand this film’s deeper meaning. When one is thrown into the core of life, a life stripped of escapism, one ends up with only the challenge of fate. Then one deals with it—or doesn’t. (AJ) The Movies Les Amants réguliers A three-hour homage to the 1968 student demonstrations in Paris: the late-night philosophical discussions, the tentative explorations of free love, the drugs, the romantic tossing of Molotov cocktails from the barricades. In Philippe Garrel’s autobiographical film, the young poet and draft refuser François (played by Louis Garrel, the director’s son) discovers love, grief and other opiates. Slow, atmospheric and romantic. 178 min. Filmmuseum An Inconvenient Truth This souped-up slide show by former VP and presidential candidate Al Gore is brought to you in full Lecture-Vision, as the man bashes you over the head with statistics, pictures, scientific facts and cute computer-animated polar bears to make you understand the importance of his mission. Gore is out to save the world from global warming and
Special screenings Candy Night A selection of films fitting in with a theme of ‘Metamorphosis’, boasting a transgender confusion character. The night also marks the birthday of the late Candy Darling—albeit two days before the actual date—the pre-op transsexual superstar who starred in Andy Warhol’s films Flesh and Women in Revolt. (The more daring your costume, the lower the entrance fee.) Het Illuseum Cutter’s Way This powerful, paranoid thriller set in Santa Barbara, adapted by Jeffrey Alan Fishkin from Newton Thornberg’s novel Cutter and Bone, is probably Czech director Ivan Passer’s best American feature. Jeff Bridges and John Heard play two friends, the latter a crippled Vietnam war veteran, who stumble upon what looks like a murder committed by a wealthy local citizen. This 1981 film is a major statement about post-’60s disillusionment, with a wonderful performance by Lisa Eichhorn and shimmering, hallucinatory cinematography by Jordan Cronenweth. (JR) 105 min. De Nieuwe Anita Fellini’s Satyricon and Roma Two films by the great Italian master of spectacle. Satyricon (1969) is
set in the Rome of Nero; Roma (1971) is a love song to the modern city. In Italian with Dutch subtitles. Melkweg Cinema Gegen die Wand Winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2004, Gegen die Wand grittily portrays two Turkish-German characters eager to get away from their roots and their past. An abundance of drugs, violence and squalor makes this depressing and quite difficult to watch. It is, however, also quite difficult to shake off, thanks to the lived-in performances and director Fatih Akin’s humane approach. In German/Turkish with Dutch subtitles. (RN) 123 min. Goethe-Institut Amsterdam Haanstra & Holland Those who, after seeing Pretpark Nederland, just can’t get enough of the Dutch interacting in their natural habitat might consider going to Haanstra and Holland, a symposium on Bert Haanstra (1916-1997), one of our most distinguished Dutch filmmakers. Although most renowned for his lyrical short documentary Glas, the focus of the symposium will be on Haanstra’s depiction of Holland and its inhabitants in his body of work. In addition to
the contributions of several scholars, the conference will include some fine specimens of Haanstra’s work, like Spiegel van Holland, Dijkbouw and a fragment of Alleman. (BS) Filmmuseum Human Nature Michel Gondry’s first feature already boasts the quirky style and subject matter he has gone on to explore in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and the upcoming Science of Sleep. In this 2001 film, an ambitious scientist discovers a wild man who seems to represent the primordial human. He is adamant on house-training him to the point of civility, while his excessively haired lover is opposed to taming the wild man’s simian side, after which a bizarre love triangle is formed. An inventive, irreverent and highly entertaining film is the result, with great performances to boot. In English/French with Dutch subtitles. (LvH) 96 min. Kriterion L’Argent Robert Bresson’s 1983 film returns to some of the themes of his earlier work—the notion of stolen grace from Pickpocket, the suppression of scenes in favour of a continuous flow of action from A Man Escaped—but there is a new passion and
electricity in Bresson’s minimalist images. Among the violent events are a bank robbery, a car chase, a prison insurrection and a series of brutal murders. The world is ready to explode into chaos, but Bresson retains his contemplative distance, searching for the sense in which this ‘avalanche of evil’ can lead to the ultimate spiritual victory of his protagonist. Bresson, working his soundtrack as assiduously as his visuals, once again makes us realise how little use most films make of the resources of the cinema. A masterpiece. In French with Dutch subtitles. (DK) 90 min. Filmmuseum De Nacht van de Wansmaak Aka ‘The Night of Bad Taste’. See article on p. 24. Filmmuseum Cinerama The Driller Killer and Ms 45 Two gore-laden psychodramas by Abel Ferrara, both set in gritty, punky New York circa 1980. In The Driller Killer (1979; 96 min), an under-appreciated artist snaps and starts murdering homeless people. Ms. 45 (1981; 80 mins), Ferrara’s breakthrough film, is a sleazily atmospheric, X-rated drama of rape and revenge. Cavia
16-22 November 2006 Uncle Al needs you! If you’re already in the know, it might be a sermon to the converted, but that doesn’t detract from the importance of this documentary and how it inspires people (maybe even you) to make a difference. (LvH) 100 min. Kriterion, The Movies, Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt Babel In a North African desert, two bored boys herding goats decide to try out their gun. The shot causes a chain reaction that changes the lives of an American couple (Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett), a rebellious, deaf teenage girl in Japan and a Mexican au pair caring for two American children. According to director Alejandro González Iñárritu, this is the third film in a trilogy that began with 21 Grams and Amores Perros. It’s all about relationships, love in the midst of adversity and communication. In many languages with Dutch subtitles. 142 min. Cinecenter, The Movies, Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt, Pathé Tuschinski Borat Borat, the third-best reporter of Kazakhstan, is sent on a noble mission to America, where he must learn some important lessons from this prosperous, advanced country. Yet Borat’s bluntness and political incorrectness soon reveal a nation that isn’t all that enlightened. It’s hard to know what exactly to make of Borat, another imaginative alter-ego of Sacha Baron Cohen, who also created white rapper Ali G. Some may find his insolent behaviour towards his ignorant victims shocking; others will find it hilarious. Either way, you’ll leave the theatre utterly exhausted. (BS) 84 min. Pathé ArenA, Pathé City, Pathé De Munt Buddha’s Lost Children A feature-length documentary film about a Thai Buddhist monk who—armed only with his faith and boxing skills—wages an inspirational battle to help orphaned children, fight drug abuse and preserve a vanishing way of life. Followed over the course of a year by Dutch director Mark Verkerk, Abt Phra Khru Bah transforms the lives of the children he encounters through a mixture of compassion and tough love. In Thai with Dutch subtitles. 96 min. Kriterion
Capote This respectful biopic follows the six years in which author and celebrity socialite Truman Capote did his research for his masterpiece, In Cold Blood. Academy Award-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman doesn’t shrink from the challenge and flaunts both Capote’s strengths and his weaknesses. His Capote is flawed to perfection. (BS) 99 min. Filmhuis Griffioen China Blue Documentary by Micha X Peled, which explores the textile industry of China and the 130 million children working in factories to produce clothing. In Cantonese/English/Mandarin with Dutch subtitles. 87 min. Het Ketelhuis Cinderella Man Ron Howard, an exemplar of honourable mediocrity, reunites with actor Russell Crowe and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman of A Beautiful Mind for this epic treatment of a seven-year stretch in the career of New Jersey boxer James J Braddock. The story culminates in Braddock’s near miraculous defeat of Max Baer (Craig Bierko), which made Braddock world heavyweight champion, but despite the effective fight sequences, this is more about what it means to have your electricity shut off, enhanced by detailed re-creations of working-class misery during the Depression. Paul Giamatti is a particular standout as Braddock’s manager. (JR) 144 min. Pathé ArenA
Amsterdam Weekly
LEKKER BEZIG the whole of Europe with The first thing you FEDOR LIMPBERG the unifying theme of notice about Fedor Filmstart.nl and Filmnetwork.nl “cultural diversity”. Limperg is his funky We’re currently working facial hair. But dig a on a new project called little deeper and you’ll “Filmzender”, to enable find a man who is film-makers easier committed to film on access to film festivals. many levels. As he There are so many festisays himself: ‘Seven vals that distribution years ago, we started companies hire interns out with the Filmstart to look everything up, page, when we we and we plan to make a were studying at the huge database to make Film Academy. We sure directors don’t send wanted to create a copies to the wrong festisimple, comprehensive vals and are able to find guide with no comthe right destinations mercial gain, to enable for their films. It’ll be young (and old) filmjust as comprehensive makers to make more as our Filmstart page, films, and the techno‘Our main goal is lifting with To-Do lists, to boot. logical revolution of the internet gave us the whole film scene to the And it’ll work in the same way, with multithat possibility. next level.’ ple people in charge of ‘The establishment the pages and with the was still clueless about overarching idea in mind of creating a comthe World Wide Web, and we created a munity, which is easier by using the multifaceted website. The foundation internet because it’s so accessible. Filmnetwerk was started three years ago ‘Our main goal is lifting the whole to foster the Dutch film scene. We wanted scene to the next level. Since we started to create a network for the film communinegotiating with corresponding European ty and make it into an actual film foundations, I noticed that in other community, consisting of directors, critcountries, conversations about film have ics, film scholars and the like. We want to been very different, more focused on conget people together and establish working tent than in the Netherlands. In the relationships with each other, to create a Netherlands, it all seems to go around in more vibrant scene. Not just film-makers, circles, while we’d like to go against the but other people involved with film-makgrain and break out of the formality of it ing and the reception of films as well. all. Let’s improve on that.’ ‘I’m in talks with similar foundations across Europe to lift it to a European level. By Luuk van Huët And we’re planning a script competition for
Click If you enjoy senseless, offensive, morally repellent, puerile shite that reeks of high school locker room, waste two hours of your life watching this latest Adam ‘professional fuckwit’ Sandler vehicle. Workaholic Michael Newman (Sandler) acquires a universal remote control, which—wow—controls his universe, enabling him to fast forward through the pesky parts of his life. You know, dinner with family, sex with the wife,
the wait for promotion. Stuffed to the gills with ’80s actors—Henry Winkler, Julie Kavner, David Hasselhoff—Click purportedly seeks to bring home the universal truth that family comes first. (Newman is married, inexplicably, to a gorgeous woman, played by Kate Beckinsale in Stepford Wife mode.) You’ll deserve a medal for sitting through this rebarbative piece of cinema without hurting yourself. (AD) 108 min. Pathé
23 ArenA, Pathé De Munt The Departed Director Martin Scorsese’s latest finds him once again in top form and at home in his favourite subjects: the underworld, money and clan loyalty. The Departed is based on the 2002 Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs and set in Irish-Italian South Boston. Mob boss Frank Costello (an exuberantly evileyed Jack Nicholson) runs the show; Matt Damon, as Costelloís police department mole, alternates between a poker face and a winning smile. But the police have their own double agent (Leonardo DiCaprio), whose slow disintegration is at the heart of this drama about doubling and deception. (JH) 152 min.Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt, Pathé Tuschinski The Devil Wears Prada Lauren Weisberger’s bestselling novel about a young woman losing her soul at a New York fashion magazine has been turned into an agreeably shallow comedy by director David Frankel, a veteran of HBO’s equally status-driven Entourage and Sex and the City. Meryl Streep walks away with the movie as the harshly unforgiving editor of a Vogue-like glossy; Anne Hathaway (The Princess Diaries) makes a lovely mannequin as her downtrodden new assistant, who trades her journalistic ideals for an endless series of smashing outfits. (JJ) 109 min. Pathé ArenA, Pathé City, Pathé De Munt, Pathé Tuschinski
Don An updated version of the 1978 Bollywood action classic. The Don is a drug dealer who is imprisoned by his archenemy, Deputy Commissioner DeSilva. DeSilva has a plan to take down the Don’s whole organisation; the beautiful Roma has a plan to get revenge; Vijay, the mole who has taken the Don’s place, is caught in the middle. Directed by Farhan Akhtar, this modern and stylish remake of shows progress in the world of Indian cinema. The fight scenes are believable, slow motion and split screen enhance the action, and quirks in the plot keep the audience guessing. Though nobody can compare to the original Don (Amitabh Bachchan), Shah Rukh Khan gives the role a sleek update. For the fans of the original version, there is a surprise twist at the end of the movie. In Hindi with Dutch subtitles. (SD) Pathé ArenA Eden Another food-fixes-everything movie. This tale of friendship and intimacy centres on the relationship between Eden (Charlotte Roche), an unhappily married waitress, and Gregor (Josef Ostendorf), an ugly chef whose sensuality all gets poured into his cuisine. They develop a friendship that makes everything, including Eden’s marriage, work better. But in German director Michael Hofmann’s film, no one can understand the platonic passion of the two foodies—least of all Eden’s jealous husband. In German with Dutch subtitles. 98 min. Cinecenter, The Movies Factotum In the autobiographical novel Factotum, Charles Bukowski surveyed the numerous crap jobs he worked in the 1940s while he was teaching himself to write; his cold-eyed appraisal of manual labour and the spiritual death it brings helped cement his reputation as poet laureate of the American underclass. This adaptation by Norwegian writer-director Bent Hamer (Kitchen Stories) leans toward the novel’s episodes of doomed romance and drunken mischief, assembling them into a subdued and less effective version of Barfly (1987), the raucous comedy Bukowski penned for director Barbet Schroeder. Yet as Henry Chinaski, the author’s stand-in, Matt Dillon does a magnificent
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Amsterdam Weekly
16-22 November 2006 Chesty Morgan, murderess.
This puketastic film fest is the dernier cri in distaste. And it just might be the last serving you’ll ever have to stomach.
After scurrying through the celluloid mines of film history, organisers Jan Doense, and Jan Verheyen aka Max Rockatansky, have once again managed to find fresh heaps of filmic faeces, which will undoubtedly attract hordes of ravenous fans of the damned, the strange and the damned strange. Doense explains the selection process: ‘The bulk of our programme is comprised of trailers for films that are unwatchable as a whole. They
must be unintentionally funny or shocking, printed on 35 mm and, because of our background, we focus on the late Sixties, the Seventies and the early Eighties, before the VCR became commonplace. Our perfect ratio is an eighty-twenty per cent mixture of laughable and gory. Most pulp movies of late aren’t that winceinducingly bad, because you can now make a bad film look good. When they tried to make an Italian Star Wars, they just didn’t have the means.’ Two Wansmaaks ago, there was already talk of the scarcity of good material. Is this really the final chapter? Verheyen responds: ‘We’re not calling it “The Final Chapter” for nothing. The well we take our material from isn’t inexhaustible; a lot of films have been destroyed because the makers were callous with the material, while some of them wouldn’t spend money on preserving them for posterity. Sometimes there’s only one known copy and we don’t want
and Pulp Fiction shows us a downward spiral of violence and grief that begins when irresponsible youngster Niko prints out a fake 500-euro note and tries to use it. Each time the note is passed to a new person, the situation gets worse. The ingenious thing: you can’t really tell when exactly director Aku Louhimies shifts into darker gear—until you find yourself suffocating in intense human drama. The oppressive cinematography will confirm your prejudices about Finland: it’s very cold and very white indeed, and the snow is just there to make up for the colour of its inhabitants souls. In Finnish with Dutch subtitles. (MP) 130 min. Cinecenter, Filmmuseum
of Wham! at their height, moving through Michael’s reincarnation as a mature solo star. Lots of footage old and new—and threaded through it are interviews with Michael at his most articulate and thoughtful. He speaks movingly on the struggle to come to terms with his sexuality, its massive impact on his private and professional life, the loss of his lover Anselmo and the death of his mother shortly thereafter. Contributions come from, amongst others, Elton John, a hostile Boy George, and a generally clueless Mariah Carey in a virtually non-existent dress. By the way, Michael’s dad always told him he couldn’t sing, apparently. A mustsee for pop pickers. (AD) 93 min. Cinecenter
George Michael: A Different Story Take a trip down memory lane with this poptastic documentary on the rise and rise of George Michael. It’s 90-odd nostalgic minutes of the ’80s day-glo and tight shorts
The Grudge 2 Sarah Michelle Gellar returns for this sequel to The Grudge (2004), itself a remake of a Japanese chiller. Takashi Shimizu directed all three. 92 min. Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt
WHEN BAD FILMS GO GOOD By Luuk van Huët Picture the scene: a comely woman, dressed in a tattered red dress is trying to evade the pincers of a repulsive alien with a freakishly large brain...which turns out to be a cheap costume! The picture on the flyer for the last instalment of the infamous Nacht van de Wansmaak [‘Night of bad taste’] encapsulates the event brilliantly.
slow burn. With Lili Taylor and Marisa Tomei. (JJ) 94 min. Filmhuis Griffioen Forever Heddy Honigmann’s latest film documents the life of the Parisian cemetery Père-Lachaise. But the filmmaker can’t seem to make up her mind whether to make a film about Proust (one of the cemetery’s residents), a statement on art versus mortality, or a portrait of the living visitors. Her quiet style of filming, using long shots and a static camera to allow the action to unfold, has worked well for her in the past, when you felt she had a connecti7on with the people she filmed. But in Forever, none of these approaches brings the talented Honigmann onto familiar ground. In French with Dutch or English subtitles. (MM) 95 min. Het Ketelhuis, Kriterion, De Uitkijk Frozen Land This Finnish combination of Magnolia
to risk it by touring with it. I also believe in quitting with dignity, and thanks to the Nacht, a lot of material has become available and we’ve contributed a footnote to film history.’ Asked if there’s a difference between Dutch and Flemish audiences, Verheyen replies: ‘The Flemish crowd needs to loosen up; you need to take them along for the ride. The Dutch are far more extroverted, and since they’ve paid fifteen euros, they intend to laugh for their money’s worth.’ The Nacht features some outrageous content, including footage at an upbeat Scandinavian sex club with a positively geriatric in-crowd, where a slightly built customer fails to get aroused by the ministrations of one of the working girls, and the frankly unbelievable educational film All Women Have Periods, aimed at mentally challenged children. Where do you find this stuff? Verheyen explains: ‘When you find All Women Have Periods, you feel like an archaeologist who found an ancient vase after sifting sand for a week. Luckily, we have excellent film museums in the Netherlands and Belgium, and other work we find through a network of private collectors.’ Finally, Doense reveals what the essence of his night is: ‘A mixture of true love for film and a look in the seedy underbelly of world cinema is what makes the Nacht so special.’
Nacht van de Wansmaak: The Final Chapter, 17-18 November, 22.00, Filmmuseum Cinerama, Marnixstraat 400, 589 1400, €15
His Big White Self Billed as a sequel to The Leader, His Driver and the Driver’s Wife, Nick Broomfield’s 1991 documentary on Eugène Terre’Blanche, leader of the South African white supremacist movement the Afrikaner Weerstandsbegweging (AWB), His Big White Self is actually a misleading title. Broomfield’s new film is less a study of the man himself than a history of the AWB and its role within the 1948-1994 Apartheid regime. Featuring some shocking footage of AWB campaigns at the height of its popularity in the late ’80s and early ’90s, culminating in 1994 at Bophutswana where the AWB behaved, according to Broomfield’s narration, ‘as if they were on a hunting trip’, the documentary constitutes an uncomfortable reminder that in places, such as Ventersdorp, despite the ‘fall’ of Apartheid, segregation effectively remains, and little has really changed for the black South Africans who live there. (AD) 92 min. Cinema Amstelveen, Kriterion
Amsterdam Weekly
16-22 November 2006
25 Pretty as a daffodil.
De Palma’s beautiful new mess mixes 1940s fact with fiction to tell a story that moves along, but is hardly moving.
LOOKING GOOD, FEELING NOT GREAT By Mike Peek The year 1987 saw the release of The Black Dahlia, James Ellroy’s crime novel based on the famously unsolved murder of Elizabeth Short 40 years earlier. This aspiring actress—and rumoured prostitute—was found dead on a vacant lot, her body cut in half. Ellroy mixed this case with a sultry Los Angeles underground story, fuelling
Hokkabaz Magician manqué Iskender decides to leave Istanbul. With assistant Maradona, he plans a tour of small Turkish towns, but at the last minute, ends up taking his father along, with expectedly unexpected results. Popular Turkish comic Cem Yilmaz (Vizontele, G.O.R.A.) stars; he also wrote and co-directed. In Turkish with Dutch subtitles. 122 min. Pathé ArenA Into Great Silence A first look into the lives of the monks of the Grande Chartreuse—the mother house of the legendary Carthusian Order in the French Alps—this documentary by Philip Groening serves to remind that there’s more to silence than just silence. There are no interviews, no commentary and no music, other than the monks’ song, yet this is an eyeand ear-opening piece. Groening spent six months alone in the monastery, filming daily rhythms and rituals as the monks went about their slow-paced
Short’s legend even further. In Brian De Palma’s adaptation, Aaron Eckhart stars as Lee Blanchard, a cynical, eloquent policeman teaming up with the young, idealistic cop Bucky Bleichert (Josh Hartnett) to investigate the Short murder. After Lee saves Bucky’s life during an arrest, the colleagues become buddies and spend a lot of time together, often accompanied by Lee’s wife Kay (Scarlett Johansson). Pretty
business. In French/Latin with Dutch subtitles. 164 min. Het Ketelhuis Jackass: Number Two More stunts, pranks and grossout humour from Johnny Knoxville and company, whose MTV reality show Jackass and big-screen hit Jackass: The Movie have pushed the lowbrow as low as it will go. Parts of this are screamingly funny (a groupie’s love note posted on the wall of a hotel corridor conceals a spring-wired boxing glove), other parts downright stomach-turning (drinking a glass of horse semen), but you have to admire the fact that, for these guys, ‘anything for a laugh’ really means anything. And for all the moronic behavior, there are also some inspired dadaist moments (a staged gang war between white and black midgets that mystifies onlookers). The movie opens with a parody of the running of the bulls at Pamplona and near the end pays
soon, Bucky secretly falls in love with Kay. Meanwhile, Lee becomes so absorbed by the murder he loses focus of new developments. To say that The Black Dahlia looks good would be a tremendous understatement. Vilmos Zsigmond’s dazzling camerawork makes extensive use of tracking shots, pans and tilts to give the audience a bird’s eye view of the beautiful sets, while Dante Ferretti’s smoky art direction nails the required 1940s mood perfectly. Moreover, a brilliantly choreographed shoot-out scene on a staircase shows De Palma’s directorial skills, reminding the viewer of a similar scene in his 1987 classic The Untouchables. But, for all its beauty, The Black Dahlia never grips you, partly because of the mediocre acting. Hartnett is stiff as always, while Johansson again shows the limitations of her acting range, which has become so obvious in her recent work.
homage to the collapsing-house-front gag from Buster Keaton’s Steamboat Bill, Jr—barbed reminders that some of our hallowed cultural artifacts also traded in cheap thrills. (JJ) 95 min. Pathé De Munt Leef! Dutch drama from director Willem van de Sande Bakhuyzen (Cloaca, Familie), Leef! about Anna (Monic Hendrickx), a woman in her 40s at a pivotal point in life. In Dutch. (SM) 108 min. Pathé Tuschinski
Little Miss Sunshine In this offbeat comedy, a
fractious family of misfits piles into an ailing VW bus and sets off for California so the youngest (Abigail Breslin) can compete in a children’s beauty pageant. Suffering each other along the way are her irascible grandfather (Alan Arkin), suicidal uncle (Steve Carell), Nietzsche-obsessed teenage brother (Paul Dano), beleaguered mom (Toni Collette), and abrasive dad
She convinces as a mute femme fatale, but any requirement of strong verbal emotion reduces her to a B-grade actress. Eckhart is the only main cast member who seems fit for his part, displaying the same distinguished arrogance that worked so well in Thank You for Smoking. The biggest problem, however, is the fragmented script. When Bucky runs into Madeleine (Hilary Swank), a daughter of the wealthy Linscott family who knew Elizabeth Short and bears some resemblance to her, De Palma flirts with Hitchcock, as he did earlier in Body Double (1984). Here, this identity play seems a faint attempt to add some depth and ambiguity to a very plain story. De Palma goes to great length covering up the structure of his film, creating an unnecessary storytelling mess. If The Black Dahlia is a little hard to follow at times, it’s because it doesn’t want you to notice that the story is not moving in any surprising direction. The climax is laughable, rather than thrilling and, at times, the film even feels like a comical whodunnit. When Bucky visits Madeleine’s parental home, he finds a stiffed dog in the hallway. Madeleine’s father shot the dog getting the paper on the day he made his first million, allegedly because he wanted to ‘capture the moment’. Funny, yes, but the fact that it’s even worth mentioning goes to show that behind The Black Dahlia’s pretty facade, there is less than meets the eye.
The Black Dahlia opens Thursday at Pathé ArenA and Pathé De Munt.
(Greg Kinnear), a motivational speaker whose ninestep program for success constantly aggravates the others’ sense of failure. As scripted by Michael Arndt, this isn’t much more than a glorified sitcom, but it deftly dramatises our conflicting desires for individuality and an audience to applaud it. Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris directed. (JJ) 102 min. Kriterion, The Movies, Pathé ArenA, Pathé Tuschinski
Nachtrit Cool film about a taxi driver who gets caught up in the Amsterdam taxi war of 2000. Dennis (Frank Lammers) takes on a huge debt to finance his own taxi permit. Little does he know that a new law is about to come through that will make his permit absolutely worthless. With good acting, great dialogues and a convincing sex scene, the film makes perfect use of the darker side of the city. And who would have guessed that Rembrandt: The Musical star Henk Poort
Amsterdam Weekly
26 was such a badass? In Dutch. (LG) 104 min. The Movies, Pathé De Munt Ober Absurdity reigns once again in Alex van Warmerdam’s latest feature, a hysterical tale about the many bizarre misfortunes of a waiter named Edgar (played by the director himself), who also happens to be the main character of a manuscript in the making. Reality and fiction coalesce even further when the badgered Edgar complains to his creator about all his mishaps and demands restitution. Van Warmerdam’s characteristic grim sense of humour and the many hilarious guest appearances by renowned Dutch thespians make this a film you’re not likely to forget. In Dutch. (BS) 97 min. Cinecenter, Het Ketelhuis, Kriterion
Pretpark Nederland Pretpark Nederland Director Michiel van Erp explores a weird phenomenon the Dutch call ‘leisure time’. According to some, the Dutch are maniacally battling the boredom that lurks in every corner—whether it’s by attending a women’s magazine day out, shopping in giant mall Batavia Stad or watching the Gay Parade. It’s refreshing to have a Dutchman self-reflect on habits without getting exploitative or malicious. The film is a bit overlong, yet it never gets boring. And apparently that’s what Dutch life is all about. In Dutch. (BS) 90 min. Het Ketelhuis Scoop Woody Allen follows up his best film (Match Point) with another story set in London and starring Scarlett Johansson as an American greenhorn among the English gentry, but this mystery comedy is tired, laboured and lazy. A journalism student (Johansson), drafted by a stage magician (Allen) to take part in a vanishing act, winds up in a hidden compartment and meets the ghost of a journalist (Ian McShane), who informs her that a wealthy playboy (Hugh Jackman) may be a notorious serial killer. This is hardly Allen’s worst film (I might go with Shadows
FILM TIMES Thursday 16 November until Wednesday 22 November.Times are provided by cinemas and are subject to last-minute changes. Film times also at www.amsterdamweekly.nl. De Balie Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 10, 553 5151 Cease Fire Fri 20.00 Cinema Iran Thur-Sat Leila Fri 22.00 Under the Moonlight Thur 22.00, Sat 20.00 Under the Skin of the City Thur 20.00, Sat 22.00. Cavia Van Hallstraat 52-I, 681 1419 The Driller Killer and Ms 45 Thur 20.30 / Fri 20.30. Cinecenter Lijnbaansgracht 236, 623 6615 Babel daily 15.45, 18.45, 21.45, Sun also 11.15 Eden daily 16.15 Frozen Land daily 21.45 George Michael:A Different Story daily 19.30, Sun also 11.00, 14.00 Ober daily 16.30, 19.15, 21.45, Sun also 11.15, 14.00 Volver daily 16.00, 19.00, 22.00, Sun also 11.00, 13.30. Cinema Amstelveen Plein 1960 2, Amstelveen, 547 5175 His Big White Self Thur, Tues, Wed 20.30, Sun 16.00 Kruistocht in Spijkerbroek (NL) Sat, Wed 15.30, Sun 13.30 Zwartboek Thur-Sat, Tues, Wed 20.30, Thur also 15.00, Sun also 16.00. Filmhuis Griffioen Uilenstede 106, Amstelveen, 444 5100 Capote Thur, Fri 21.00, Tues 19.00 Factotum Thur, Fri 19.00, Tues 21.30. Filmmuseum Vondelpark 3, 589 1400 13 (Tzameti) Thur 17.30, Fri-Wed 22.00 Les Amants réguliers Sun 15.30 Black Beauty Sun, Wed 14.00 Frozen Land Thur 21.45, Fri, Sat 17.00, 19.30, Sun-Wed 19.30 Haanstra & Holland Fri 22.00-17.00 Iron Island Thur 17.45, 19.45, Fri-Wed 19.45, 21.45 L'Argent Thur 19.30, Mon-Wed 17.30 Ladri di biciclette Sun 15.45 Lotte van Uitvindersdorp Sun, Wed 13.45 Rondom het Ouderkerksplein Thur 19.30 Stray Dogs Fri-Wed 17.45. Filmmuseum Cinerama Marnixstraat 400, 623 7814, De Nacht van de Wansmaak Fri, Sat 22.00.
and Fog or Hollywood Ending), but he’s definitely going through the motions. The score consists of classical chestnuts (Grieg and Tchaikovsky), which Allen seems vaguely to associate with upper-class Brits. (JR) 96 min. Pathé Tuschinski
Shortbus Shortbus Director John Cameron Mitchell and cast go all the way in his second feature after cult classic Hedwig and the Angry Inch. But behind all the real masturbation, penetration and ejaculation lies a moving story about three individuals and their search for (sexual) fulfillment. Mitchell’s message is clear: sex shouldn’t be taken too seriously. That would take all the fun out of it. He manages to pair sincere emotions with real sex and still be considered mainstream. Will this mean the end for the adult entertainment industry? (BS) 102 min. Kriterion Stormbreaker Fourteen-year-old schoolboy Alex Rider is drafted into MI6 and saves Britain from the evil machinations of Mickey Rourke. Ewan MacGregor plays Obi-Wan Keno—um, superspy Ian Rider, Alex’s uncle. With usual suspects Robbie Coltrane, Stephen Fry, Bill Nighy. 93 min. Pathé De Munt
tles. (MP) 93 min. Filmmuseum
Thank You
For Smoking Christopher Buckley’s 1994 novel about Washington spin doctors has been adapted to the screen by first-time director Jason Reitman, who pares away its institutional detail but preserves its libertarian zeal and acid satire of Beltway amorality. Aaron Eckhart (In the Company of Men) plays a fast-talking spokesperson for the tobacco industry who earns his pay making black look white. Except for Katie Holmes as a muckraking reporter, the supporting players are all perfectly cast: Robert Duvall as an ageing tobacco lion, Rob Lowe as a vain Hollywood superagent, William H Macy as a persnickety liberal senator, Sam Elliott as a cancer-ridden Marlboro man, and Maria Bello and David Koechner as Eckhart’s cocktail buddies, fellow spin doctors for the alcohol and gun lobbies who compete with him for bragging rights to the greatest number of premature deaths. (JJ) 92 min. Kriterion, Pathé ArenA, Pathé Tuschinski Umrao Jaan JP Dutta wrote and directed this new adaptation of Mirza Ruswa’s Urdu three-hankie novel Umrao Jan Ada, about the life of a 19th-century courtesan. In Hindi with Dutch subtitles. Pathé ArenA
Volver
Stray Dogs An homage to the neorealist classic Ladri di biciclette (Vittorio de Sica, 1948), Stray Dogs tells the story of two children living in the streets of postTaliban Afghanistan after their parents are both put in jail. At first they can spend the nights in their mother’s cell, but when the prison boss forbids them to come by, the children begin stealing; desperately trying to be put behind bars themselves. Their absurd situation is brought home beautifully through strong performances by child actress Gol Ghoti and a filthy little dog the kids rescue along the way. The second feature film by Iranian director Marziyeh Meshkini (The Day I Became a Woman, 2000) is a frighteningly realistic portrait of two doomed lives. In Farsi with Dutch subti-
Volver Almodóvar is growing up. After provoking
Goethe-Institut Amsterdam Herengracht 470, , Gegen die Wand Fri 20.00.
Pathé ArenA ArenA Boulevard 600, 0900 1458 Afblijven daily 12.00, 14.30, Thur-Sun, Tues, Wed also 17.00 An Inconvenient Truth Mon 17.00 Baas in Eigen Bos Fri 15.15, Sat, Sun, Wed 12.55, Sat, Sun also 10.30, Sat, Wed also 15.00 Baas in Eigen Bos (IMAX) Sat, Sun, Wed 13.15, 15.45, Sat, Sun also 11.00 Babel daily 12.05, 15.10, 18.10, 21.20 The Black Dahlia daily 21.35, Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed also 13.30, 16.10, 18.55, Sat also 10.00, 12.35, 15.15, Sun also 10.45 Borat daily 13.20, 15.30, 17.45, 19.50, 22.00, Sat also 11.05 Children of Men daily 19.25 Cinderella Man Tues 13.30 Click daily 16.45, 19.15, 21.45, Thur, Fri, Mon, Tues also 11.50, 14.15 The Departed daily 14.45, 18.00, 21.15, Sat, Sun 11.25 The Devil Wears Prada daily 15.50, 18.45, 21.30, Thur, Fri, Mon, Tues also 13.00 Don Thur-Mon 20.50, Thur, Mon also 13.50, 17.25, Tues 12.05, 15.30 The Grudge 2 daily 21.55 Hokkabaz daily 21.00 Kruistocht in Spijkerbroek daily 12.50, 15.40, 18.30, 21.25, Sat, Sun also 10.10 Kruistocht in Spijkerbroek (NL) Fri-Sun 12.45, 15.25, 18.05, Sat, Sun also 10.05 Little Miss Sunshine daily 18.20 De Mierenmepper Sat, Sun 10.20, 12.35, 14.40 Open Season (IMAX) Thur, Fri, Mon, Tues also 13.15, 15.45 Piet Piraat en het Vliegende Schip Sat, Sun 10.50, 12.40, 14.15 Sneak Preview Tues 21.00 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning daily 13.10, 15.20, 17.30, 19.40, 21.50, Sat, Sun also 10.40 Thank You For Smoking daily 13.40, 16.00, 20.40, Sat, Sun also 11.15 Umrao Jaan daily 12.30, 16.25, 20.15 Wild Romance daily 18.35, Thur, Fri, Mon, Tues also 12.20 Zwartboek Thur-Sat, Tues 17.15, 20.30, Thur also 14.00, Fri also 12.10, Sun 17.55, 21.05, Mon 13.05, 16.05.
Het Illuseum Witte de Withstraat 120, 770 5581 Candy Night Wed 19.30. Het Ketelhuis Westergasfabriek, Haarlemmerweg 8-10, 684 0090 Children of Stalin Sun-Wed 17.30 China Blue Wed 16.00 Forever Sun-Wed 17.45 Into Great Silence Wed 13.00 Kruistocht in Spijkerbroek Fri-Wed 19.30, Sat-Wed also 17.00, Sat, Sun, Wed also 14.30 Ober Mon-Wed 22.00 The One Minutes Fri-Sun Het Paard van Sinterklaas Wed 13.15, 15.15 Pretpark Nederland Sun-Wed 21.45 We Feed the World Sun-Wed 19.45 Wild Romance Fri-Wed 21.45 Zwartboek Sun-Wed 19.15. Kriterion Roetersstraat 170, 623 1708 An Inconvenient Truth daily 18.15 Buddha's Lost Children daily 16.00 Forever Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 16.15, Sat, Sun also 13.15 His Big White Self Mon-Wed 18.00 Human Nature Mon 22.15 Little Miss Sunshine daily 20.00, Fri, Sat also 0.00 Maybe Sweden Sat 16.00 Ober daily 20.15, Sat, Sun also 13.30 Shortbus Thur-Sun, Tues, Wed 22.15, Fri, Sat also 0.15 Sneak Preview Tues 22.00 Thank You For Smoking Thur-Mon, Wed 22.00, Thur-Sun also 18.00. Melkweg Cinema Lijnbaansgracht 234A, 624 1777 Fellini's Roma and Satyricon Thur-Mon 20.00 Shadow Festival Tues, Wed. The Movies Haarlemmerdijk 159-165, 638 6016 21 Grams Fri, Sat 0.30 After the Wedding daily 17.15, 19.30, 21.45 Amores perros Fri, Sat 0.00 An Inconvenient Truth Sat, Wed 15.30, Sun 11.30, 13.30, 15.30 Baas in Eigen Bos Sat, Sun, Wed 15.15 Babel daily 16.30, 19.30, 21.45, Sat, Sun, Wed also 13.45, Sun also 11.00 Eden daily 19.45 Little Miss Sunshine daily 17.30, 19.30, 21.45, Sun also 13.15, Fri, Sat also 23.45 Lotte van Uitvindersdorp Sat, Sun, Wed 15.00 Nachtrit daily 22.15, Sun also 12.15, Fri, Sat also 0.15 Volver daily 17.00. De Nieuwe Anita Frederik Hendrikstraat 111, , Cutter's Way Mon 20.30. OT301 Overtoom 301, 779 4913 Definite Article Sun 20.30 Glorious Sun 22.00 The Year Zero Tues 20.30.
the public with explicit sex and his subversive sense of humour, the Spanish director now shows us there’s more to life than (just) sex, drugs and travesty. This is a heartfelt story about the long-overdue reunion of a daughter (Penélope Cruz) and the ghost of her mother (Carmen Maura). Fans of Almodóvar’s earlier work might be disappointed that carnal pleasures have been replaced by genuine emotions, but viewers should realise that humanism was just what his films needed. In Spanish with Dutch subtitles. (BS) 120 min. Cinecenter, The Movies We Feed the World This documentary, which was
16-22 November 2006 shown at last year’s IDFA to both critical and public acclaim, looks at various aspects of the food industry, all of which have been affected—not to say deformed—by globalisation. The segment showing the life cycle of chickens might cause you to toss your cookies, but the whole film will help you question the sanity of our global economy, which does seem to revolve around money after all. This makes the final interview with the CEO of Nestlé, in which he makes an utter buffoon of himself, into an effective cathartic moment. Time to go organic! (LvH) 96 min. Het Ketelhuis Wild Romance With his greased quiff and tight leather pants, singer Herman Brood was the ultimate marketing concept: the boys wanted to be like him, the girls lined up to sleep with him. In Jean van de Velde’s biopic, Daniël Boissevain does a good job of evoking the self-proclaimed rock ’n’roll junkie: half sweet, sentimental man, half big, selfish kid. But the real star of the movie is Marcel Hensema as Brood’s manager, Koos van Dijk, with his high energy and don’t-worry-I’ll-getus-out-of-this approach. Wild Romance is not so much about the life and times of Herman Brood as it is about how his manager succeeded in keeping his unruly star on the right track—most of the time, that is. In Dutch. (FD) 103 min. Het Ketelhuis, Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt
Zwartboek In the closing days of World War II, a Jewish cabaret artist, Rachel Steinn (Carice van Houten), watches as her hiding place is bombed and her family betrayed to the Nazis. She joins a resistance group (which meets in a morgue) but learns that no one can be trusted. For plotting, thrills and cynicism, this is Paul Verhoeven’s best work since Total Recall. It’s not subtle; those waiting for Verhoeven to make another Turks fruit might as well give up now. But as a sexy adventure story with an excruciatingly bleak moral vision, it’s everything we could have hoped. If Soldaat van Oranje showed us complex moral choices, Zwartboek argues that those choices aren’t even possible in the chaos of war. In Dutch / English / German / Hebrew. (JP) 139 min. Cinema Amstelveen, Het Ketelhuis, Pathé ArenA, Pathé City, Pathé De Munt, Pathé Tuschinski
An Inconvenient Truth Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 19.15, Thur, Mon, Tues also 12.10, 14.30, 16.50, Sat also 18.10 Baas in Eigen Bos Fri, Wed 16.00, Sat 11.30, 14.00, 16.15, Sun 11.25, 13.45, 16.05, Wed also 13.40 Babel Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 12.00, 15.00, 18.10, 21.20, Sat 10.00, 13.00, 16.05, 19.15, 22.30 The Black Dahlia Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 12.50, 15.50, 18.40, 21.30, Sat 12.00, 14.45, 17.30, 20.15, 23.10, Sun also 10.05 Borat Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 13.15, 15.40, 17.45, 19.55, 22.05, Sat 13.25, 15.45, 19.00, 21.15, 23.25, Sun also 11.00 Children of Men Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 19.00, 21.35, Thur, Mon, Tues also 13.45, 16.20, Sat 19.45, 22.20 Click Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 18.20, 20.50, Thur, Fri, Mon, Tues also 13.20, Thur, Mon, Tues also 15.45, Sat 18.40, 21.15 The Departed Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 20.15, Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed also 13.00, 16.30, Sat 11.45, 15.10, 18.30, 22.00, Sun also 10.15, 13.35, 16.55 The Devil Wears Prada Thur-Tues 12.55, 15.25, 18.00, 20.45, Sat 10.30, 13.15, 16.00, 18.45, 21.45, Sun also 10.15 The Grudge 2 Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 21.40, Sat 23.00 Jackass: Number Two Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 17.10, 19.25, Thur, Fri, Mon, Tues also 12.05, 14.15, Sat 18.20, 20.40 Kruistocht in Spijkerbroek Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 12.30, 15.15, 18.05, 21.00, Sat 10.15, 13.00, 15.50, 18.40, 21.30 Kruistocht in Spijkerbroek (NL) Fri, Sun, Wed 16.10, Fri, Wed also 13.15, Sat 11.00, 13.55, 16.45, Sun also 13.10 Nachtrit Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 21.45, Sat 20.30, 22.40 Het Paard van Sinterklaas Fri, Wed 14.00, Sat 11.15, 13.35, Sun 12.00, 14.30, Stormbreaker Fri, Wed 16.25, Sat 16.00, Sun 16.55 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre:The Beginning Thur, Fri, SunWed 12.35, 14.45, 17.30, 19.40, 21.55, Sat 11.50, 14.05, 16.20, 18.35, 20.45, 23.00, Sun also 10.30 Wild Romance Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 18.30, 21.10, Thur, Fri, Mon, Tues also 13.30, 16.00, Sat also 19.45, 22.10 De Wilde Bende Sat 11.05, 13.25, 15.55, Sun 10.10, 12.30, 14.50, Wed 12.15, 14.45 Zwartboek 21. Pathé Tuschinski Reguliersbreestraat 34, 0900 1458
Afblijven Sat, Sun, Wed 16.00, Sat, Sun also 13.30 Baas in Eigen Bos Sat, Sun, Wed 15.40, Sat, Sun also 13.15 Borat daily 15.30, 17.45, 20.00, 22.10, Sat, Sun also 13.00 The Devil Wears Prada daily 18.50, Thur-Mon, Wed also 21.30, Thur, Fri, Mon, Tues also 15.45 Kruistocht in Spijkerbroek daily 15.10, 18.20, 21.20, Sat, Sun also 12.20 Piet Piraat en het Vliegende Schip Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed 15.00, Sat, Sun also 14.00 Sneak Preview Tues 21.30 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning daily 18.30, 21.00, Thur, Fri, Mon, Tues also 16.15 Zwartboek daily 20.30, Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed also 17.00, Sat, Sun also 16.15.
After the Wedding daily 13.15, 19.10 Baas in Eigen Bos Sat, Sun, Wed 13.15 Babel Thur-Mon, Wed 17.15, Thur, Mon-Wed also 20.45, Thur, Tues also 13.45, Fri-Mon, Wed also 13.30, Fri-Sun also 20.30 The Departed Thur 13.00, Fri, Sun-Wed 14.00, Fri, Sun, Wed also 17.30, Fri, Sat, Wed also 21.00, Sat also 12.15 The Devil Wears Prada Thur, Tues 14.40, Fri-Mon, Wed also 12.30, Fri, Sun, Mon, Wed also 15.30, Fri, Sun, Wed also 18.30, 21.30, Sat also 16.10, 18.50, 21.45 Leef! Thur, Tues 13.30 Little Miss Sunshine Thur, Tues 12.10, Fri-Sun, Wed 16.30, 19.00, 21.50, Fri also 13.15, Mon 12.30, 15.00 Scoop Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 16.15, Sat 16.30 Thank You For Smoking daily 22.00 Zwartboek Thur 14.00, Fri-Mon, Wed 13.00, Fri, Sun, Tues also 16.30, Fri, Sat also 20.00, Sat also 16.50.
Pathé De Munt Vijzelstraat 15, 0900 1458 Afblijven Sat 11.50, 14.35, 17.10, Sun, Wed 13.20, 15.55, Sun also 10.45
De Uitkijk Prinsengracht 452, 623 7460 After the Wedding daily 19.00, 21.15 Forever daily 17.00, Sun also 14.30.
Pathé City Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 15-19, 623 4570
16-22 November 2006
Amsterdam Weekly
Bite, chew yum, ooh Hap-Hmm Eerste Helmersstraat 33, 616 1884 Open Mon-Fri 16.00-00.00 Cash Dutch food? Once upon a time, with sneering lip and nose tilted 45˚, your Glutton would have died of boredom when confronted with such peasant fare. Meat. Potatoes. Overcooked veg. Almost as bad as English swill. But here he was, snout pressed to glass, staring into the crowded Hap-Hmm, like a Dickensian urchin. The frosty November night made him wish for couch potatodom, but solitude and a desire to eat in company drove him out onto the streets. The people within seemed very happy. The place beamed warmth and welcome. Ah, company—as comforting as food. The restaurant is in a private family home. The original was started in 1935 as somewhere you could eat for 25 cents. In 1965, it changed hands. The present owner’s grandfather took over, and started a family tradition of familiar Dutch fare, from Oma’s recipes. After scanning the outside menu board which announced the day’s special—chilli con carne—and veggies of choice, an overwhelming desire for a whacking great meatball, swimming in thick brown gravy on a boiled potato mountain, with red cabbage and apple, consumed me. My tummy rumbled, a belly-ship moving into port. I was prepared to gnaw through the door if necessary. This sitting was full of people returning from work. Some sat in splendid isolation, reading their newspapers. Others, like me, sat at commu-
THE UNDERCOVER GLUTTON My meatball, big as my bunched fist, lay in terrific brown gravy. No nouvelle portion, this. I tucked in, enjoying every bite. It cost a measly six euros. nal tables. Stranger or regular felt at home. The Hap hummed with conversation. ‘Do you serve home-made meatballs?’ I asked, drowning in drool. The lady taking my
order digested my naive question. She nodded. The day soup (€1.30 a plate) came from an electric soup kettle. Hmm, something comfortingly traditional about that. It was vegetable, with
27
some pasta in it. My main course arrived. A plateful of steaming boiled potatoes, fresh cappucijner beans with bacon bits and fried onion, and carrots. My meatball, big as my bunched fist, lay in terrific brown gravy. No nouvelle portion, this. I tucked in, enjoying every bite. It cost a measly €6. What a bargain! What made the meal special was the relaxed informality of the owners, moving to and fro from the kitchen hatchway, stopping to chat, laugh, sympathise with their guests, giving personal attention. Their interest was genuine, not practised horeca theatrics, fawning in front and cursing under the breath behind. They exuded a big, extended family feeling. All together, the meal set me back a mere €14: soup, main course, dessert (ice cream with chocolate sauce and whipped cream) and a bitter lemon to drink. I could also have opted for ostrich medallions at €8 or tenderloin steak for €11. Then there’s the traditional suddervlees, stewed beef that’s slowsimmered with a few cloves and bay leaves. Grandma’s recipe, of course. The diners are people who know Ma’s or Oma’s flavours. This is why they travel from all over Amsterdam, to eat their favourite fare. Everything here is made fresh and there are vegetarian and Quorn burgers for the less carnivorous. My jaded palate was refreshed. My belly full. It grumbled in gratitude. The Glutton sat back to let his blood sugars peak to glory. My table companion told me that he once sang chorus at the opera and now works as a cabdriver. A big, cheerful Amsterdammer who looked me directly in the eye when he spoke. He ate schnitzel, and informed me that the veggies are cooked in a tiny bit of water to retain nutrients. I think he had a ton of ripe Amsterdam stories to tell, but at that moment he, was busy happing away. Hmm.
Amsterdam Weekly
28
WEEKLY CLASSIFIEDS Ads are free, space permitting. They will be posted both to the paper and online. Guaranteed placement is available for a small fee; see our website for details. Ads may be published in English, het Nederlands or whatever language is best for you to communicate your message. How to submit an ad: via our website at www.amsterdamweekly.nl, by fax at 020 620 1666 or post to Amsterdam Weekly, De Ruyterkade 106, 1011 AB Amsterdam. Deadline: Monday at 12.00, the week of publication. AD OF THE WEEK JOLLY SANTA WANTED We’re looking for a Santa to come to town a few weekend mornings in Dec! Must be good with children! Please email amsterdam_sales2@hardrock.com for more info and to apply.
HOUSING OFFERED JOH-BURG HOUSESunny, partly furnished cosy house in trendy Melville. 4-bdrm, 2-bthrm, ideal for NGO/academic couple. Verandahs, view Koppies, Chubb Alarms, 2-car garage,10 m lap pool. Weekly char, gardener, pool caretaker. All incl. 8000 rand. Elec, water own account. Available 15 Jan. ena.jansen@planet.nl. AMSTEL RIVER Ground floor, 2rm apt, fully and classically furnished. Best location on Amstel River. Beautiful view. Available starting last week of Nov for 3 months or eventually longer. €900 all incl. One month deposit. Call 06 1294 1029. ONENICEROOMTOrentinA’dam for €300. Call 06 1536 6245. STUDIO IN CENTRE €750. For
1 person. 30m2 living space. From15 Nov. Call 06 4067 3153.
sibility to register. Contact ttorvine@hotmail.com.
DE PIJP Room for rent from 1 Dec-1 Jan in modern 2-bdrm apt, €450 all incl. Great location. Own en-suite, fully furnished. Call 06 3842 6307.
DESPERATELY SEEKING!Couple seeks long-term rental in A’dam from Jan. Max price €900. Need a change of pace! Contact Lee at leebhenry@yahoo.co.uk.
AMSTEL Great, furnished, 1bdrm apt for short-term,1 month or shorter, center, Carré Theater, view of Amstel river, famous area, wooden floors, Utrechestraat, shopping and dining. €1250, no fees. Please contact 06 4614 9579. STUDIO APTon edge of Jordaan. Furnished,€700 + 1 month deposit. Mobiel: 06 1294 1029.
HOUSING WANTED APT OR ROOM NEEDED!Please help this busy, easy-going, mature computer geek find decent place to live asap. Can pay up to €550/mth. Contact sindel1967@hotmail.com or 06 4406 1660. APT WANTED Finnish couple looking for flat in A’dam or Haarlem. Max €900 incl end of Dec. Unfurnished but with kitchen equipment + floor. Need pos-
HOUSING TO SHARE LOOKIN' FOR A ROOM? 23 y.o. guy looking for roommate, in apt in A’dam center. Rent ?1000 (split in two - ?500 each) all incl. Prefer girl. Smoker and easy going. Email ozziosman@hotmail.com or call 06 1087 0102. DECENT ROOM Friendly and tidy male, 29 y.o. working in A’dam and looking for decent room in house with good people. Maximum €450/mth. Call Mark on 06 4482 9591 or email mark_cremins@hotmail.com. DACOSTASTRAAT Lovely bright room in Oud- West,1 Dec-1 May ’07 or longer. 14m2, furnished, 2 big windows, internet, cable TV, central heating. Kitchen, bathroom, balcony shared with easy going internationals. €350/mth. All incl. Email christoph_swoon @hotmail.com.
NEED FLAT Spanish graphic designer, 29 y.o. looking to rent somewhere as soon as possible, up to €450/mth, 1-bdrm flat or flatshare, preferably near centre A’dam. Very friendly and sociable. Call 06 4347 9773 or bcn_ams@yahoo.es.
OTHER SPACES PHOTO STUDIO TO RENTfor amateur and prof photographers. Can also be used as meeting or gathering space. 100m2, €150/day. Also possible to rent photo equipment. Studio has high ceilings, good natural light and located on WG Plein, adjacent to Overtoom. For appointment and more info, contact D Ingel on 06 2883 4224.
WORK OFFERED SEX SHOW PERFORMERS We are sexual performers seeking other couple or bisexual fem for 2-night gig in India for executive client. All expenses & compensation paid. Write info@AdultPornStars.us. UNDUTCHABLES A'DAM looking for Internal Communication Manager; Swedish software telesales; Tourist Agents all lan-
guages; Scientific Editor parttime; German Dutch junior sales rep. Please send your CV to amsterdam@undutchables.nl or check www.undutchables.nl. UNDUTCHABLES Recruitment Agency Amstelveen. We are looking for Customer Service RepresentativespeakingFrenchand/or Dutch (Wesley Felida); Accounting Assistant (income tax and VAT) (Salah Mohamed); Credit administrator speaking German (Laura Fritz). See for more positions: www.undutchables.nl. ART REP WANTED Art gallery in A’dam/Brussels looking for a rep. Need representative for sales, networking public art commissions and fund raising. Please call 06 1096 2863 or email gabrichidze_gallery@yahoo.co m if you are interested. (PARA)MEDICS WANTEDExpat doctor looking for serious health professionals(psy/physio/giro, etc). To join new expat health centre in central A’dam. Please call 061771 4131 or mail to huisartsen@planet.nl. PERSONAL TRAINERS PTPlus Personal Training studio, www.ptbyjudith.com. A’dam is looking for personal trainers to satisfy growing client base. PT’s should have 1 year + experience, ALO or equivalent English/American certificate, knowledge of core/functional training. Please contact Judith on 06 1490 4636.
WORK WANTED JOB WANTED Hi! I am an art student, looking for part-time
16-22 November 2006 job in gallery or artspace for experience. I speak 4 languages and am social. Email anele.k@gmail.com. FASHION HAIR STYLIST with 12 years experience. Specialising in colour and technical cutting requires work in A’dam. Lee Stafford and Vidal Sassoon training, gent’s specialist also. leebhenry@yahoo.co.uk.
FOR SALE WINEUnique South African qualitywines.Pricesrangefrom€4.95€15.75.WedoB2BandB2Cwine tastings. Website www.coza.nl or email info@coza.nl. COLOURFULHOMEFURNISHINGS Recently opened bright & colourful little home furnishings store. Many nice home accessories for yourself or for a gift. Opposites Attract, Marnixstraat 65D, 612 2605, Open Tues & Thur/Sun. MOVING SALE! Washer, dryer, Meile fridge w/freezer, IKEA 2person bed w/mattress, bar stools, cabinets, lamps, more! All clean and good condition. You remove; we help down steps. Priced to sell. 06 4139 2239 or connievivrett@ yahoo.com. INTERNAT.SCHOOLBOOKS for international students for sale! E.g. cost accounting, language business English, several market + market research, Dutch beg, statistics, business, accounting, bedrijfsinformatiesystemen. Email develish_dee@hotmail.com for details and complete titles. ELECTRIC KNITTING machine was€1800, now €1200. Used
1 month only. Comes with all accessories, stand, carrying case, etc. Tel: 06 5576 7491. NEW COCKTAIL DRESSESKneelength, size 36/38, dark green, burgundy, black/grey velvet, fully-lined. Tel 06 5576 7491. RIPPEN PIANO from 1960 for sale in A’dam. €500. Call Thomas on 06 1529 6629.
SERVICES ENGLISH MAN WITH VAN can help with removals big or small, in or outside of country. Reasonable rates, quick service. Contact Lee on 06 2388 2184 or isabelleandlee@planet.nl. BEST MOVINGSERVICE IN TOWN Driver with van (10m3) or truck (40m3) available. Plus extra moving men, hoisting rope and elevator. Any combinations possible. Call Taco on 06 4486 4390, email info@vrachttaxi.com or check out www.vrachttaxi.com. FRED'S PET CARE Friendly dogwalker with references, available from 7.00-20.00 to take care of your pets. Also possible to keep them during the day and overnight. Reasonable rates. Just call Fred on 06 1649 1359. NEED A STUNNING WEBSITE? Experiencedwebdesignerbuilds professional,uniquesitesforvery reasonable prices. Online links to past projects available. Contact Jordan:jordangcz@yahoo.com, 06 3034 1238. FREELANCE ARTISTPeople & animalportraits,facepaintingforchildren’s parties, illustration and art & design. www.jaraart.com or call 06 5081 4216.
VIDEO REGISTRATIONSVideographer can videotape & do any video editing or production needs that you may have. Whether wedding video, training video, sporting event, play, industrial video, etc. I have the equipment & experience to produce almost anything according to your budget. nestorsanzster@gmail.com. CREATIVE & PRINTINGservices offered: business cards,T-shirts, flyers, posters, advertising, etc. Email dizzy.design@graffiti.net or call 06 2816 3169. CLEANING/IRONINGNice, friendly,experiencedcoupleoffercleaning/ironing services. Good service and nice rates. References available. Tel 06 4365 9790. PRIVATEINVESTIGATIONS, interpreter and middleman. Art and authenticity expertise; also help with lost addresses; lost contacts; missing persons; fraud; checking personal credibility; missing data; establishing any other facts upon request. Call 06 1096 2863 or email admin@kunstoren.com. BASIC ENGLISH skills for work, travel and social situations. Oneto-one sessions focus on speaking, writing and building self-confidence. Call 06 2626 0310 or tefl@europe.com. DOCTOR SERVICESCambridge Medical offers doctor service for expats and tourists in A’dam area. Dr E Cambridge, huisarts, GP offers high quality consultations, home visits and emergency prescriptions. Contact 06 27235 380/427 5011 or doc-
Amsterdam Weekly
16-22 November 2006 tor@planet.nl.
praktijk.nl or 06 1488 1350.
nosh.com or 06 2509 2117.
DOMESTIC HELPNeed help with cleaning your house? Englishspeaking student can do that for you for reasonable price. Consider myself hard-worker and reliable. You can reach me on k.benjocki@yahoo.co.uk.
PHYSICAL THERAPISTFully-qualified fysiotherapist and masseur will help you with your aches and pains. Call Don on 06 2085 6057.
REIKI THERAPIST Are you feeling unbalanced? Have pain or maybe seeking an uplifting treat? Then try Reiki, a hands on healing technique. 30 min = ?25, 1 hr = ?40. Call 06 5081 4216 for more info.
HEALTH & WELLNESS THINKING ABOUT THERAPY? Heighten your quality of life and improve your relationships with the help of a native English speaking therapist. My 20 years of professional experience and understanding can help you better cope with feelings and sort through stressful thoughts. Sagar: 06 4626 5412. PERSONAL COACHINGSlender You relaxation for body and mind. Fine-tune your conditioning and maximise your figure. Personal coaching for people with medical or health issues. 1 hour Slender You = 7 hours traditional work out! Slender You is located on Heverleestraat 1. Call 669 6641 for more info. PILATES STUDIOFully -equipped Pilates studio with Reformer, Cadillac, Wunda Chair and Spine Corrector. Improve your strength, flexibility, posture, body awareness and more! Visit www.pilatesamsterdam.nl or call 06 2893 2706. Private lessons only, from fully certified instuctor. THERAPY/COACHING Professional psychotherapy and/or coaching. Bilingual Dutch/English. Look for more information: www.corakoorn-
SUGAR BLUES WORKSHOP In this fun and interactive workshop we will discuss your cravings and their effects on the mind and body. Featured cooking lesson will demonstrate how to make healthy sweets. 19 Nov from 14.00-16.00. Visit www.justnosh.com or contact joslyn@justnosh.com for more info. POLE DANCINGWORKSHOP It’s a girly thing. Dance school in A’dam specialized in pole dancing classes & workshops. Whether it’s a private gathering for the girls, wedding celebration or wild moment out, our bachelor parties are designed to provide a unique experience. www.sexyinstructors.com. OPEN HEALING EVENING Are you stressed? Are you in pain? Has life lost its sparkle? Sat Nam Rasayan is a meditative healing art that works on the entire physical, mental and emotional being. Healers are offering treatments on Thur 20.00 at Den Texstraat 46. Please bring donation. For info call 061146 4372. VEG COOKING CLASSES Plantbased, organic cooking courses from a NYC natural foods chef. Various themes such as amazing grains, traditional Italian vegetarian and healthy sweets. Visit www.justnosh. com, contact joslyn@just-
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUSDo you or someone you know have a problem with alcohol? Want to stop drinking but you cannot? For information please call (24 hrs) 625 6057 or visit www.aa-netherlands.org. We can help. HEALER Spiritual life coach, yoga teacher and reiki healer available. Visit www.empowerall.eu or call 06 5210 1547. REIKI TREATMENTS Reiki treatments available. House visits only. Flat rate. Sessions last anywhere from1 to 2 hrs. Email hadleigh007@hotmail.com. CHIROPRACTIC CARE Don’t let back or neck pain ruin your time in A’dam. Registered doctor of chiropractic available at 30 Rapenburg near Waterlooplein. By appointment only. Email petelives@aol.com or phone 079 8126 9204. BRITISH BEAUTYTHERAPIST 25 years experience: cidesco, babtac, anbos, laser hair removal, adv electrolysis, Brazilian waxing: P8N8 oxygen skin care, anti-age facials, gift vouchers etc at McTavish Hair Salon, Quellijnstraat 80, (De Pijp) A’dam. Call 06 4079 9921 or visit www.lindayoungaesthetics.com.
HOME IMPROVEMENT BUILDING/REMODELING Carpenter available for those small jobs the big builders can’t be bothered with. Carpentry, painting, home repairs, electrical, plumbing etc. Call 06 2141 0628. WILLING & ABLE We do it all. Good price, fine work. Call 06 4656 4369 or email limostu@yahoo.com.
COMPUTERS NEED HELP WITH YOUR MAC? MAC-lover helps you with basic setups, minor troubleshooting, install, networking, basic MAC lessons, setting up programs, MS Word, QuarkXpress, etc. Help with purchasing the right MAC, call Sagar at 779 1926. PC HOUSE DOCTORSpecialised in virus/spyware removal, H/W, S/W repair, data recovery, wireless, cable/ADSL installation and computer lessons from friendly and experienced Microsoft professional for reasonable price. Contact Mario at 06 1644 8230.
details see http://massa geams.spaces.live.com or contact massage_hotmail.com or 06 2159 1867. HEALING THAI OIL massage, Ayurvedic massage and Reiki. Please call 06 4244 3161. EROTIC MASSAGEdone by wellhung 27 y.o. black male for ladies, gents and couples. Can receive or visit! Discretion assured. For bookings please call 06 4150 4839. SEASENSUALS MASSAGESBack to life! Email seasensuals@ yahoo.com or call 06 2049 6081.
COURSES PIANO LESSONS Piano Studio Groenburgwal. Husband and wife team, Dutch/American, have openings in their teaching studio.10 years experience teaching piano to expatriat families at the American School in The Hague. All ages and levels welcome. Call 624 0602.
3 KINDS OF MASSAGE Relaxation, tantric or chakra healing. More information at http://frankiko.boysnetwork.com , email f27036@hotmail.com, or mobile 06 2022 4973.
TUTORING SAT, IB Quality tutoring,1-to-1 or group tuitions from primary to university levels. Subjects range from calculus, biology, languages, piano to economics and much more. Classestaughtthroughoutweek,weekends & in holiday periods. Contact frimad@tiscali.nl or 06 4797 2998 or visit www.bijleshuiswerk.nl.
MASSAGE in central A’dam. Friendly setting, good rates. Different types offered: one to help you breath more easily, one for legs and feet, relaxing back massage to relieve tension, or combination of all three. For
YOGAYOGA.NL offers Hatha, Iyengar and Vinyasa Flow classes. Daily morning and evening, in English, in A’dam close to Jordaan. Also classes in the weekend: 3 on Sat as well as monthly Sun work-
MASSAGE
29 shops. Visit www.yogayoga.nl or call 688 3418. KUNDALINI YOGA teaches you techniques to stay healthy. You gain strong immune system, vital glands, strong nervous system, good circulation, awareness of impact of your habits. This allows you to deal calmly and gracefully with life’s challanges. For info call 06 1146 4372. YOGACAFE.ORG All levels Sivananda-style Hatha yoga classes. Beginners, intermediate, pregnancy and private courses also available. Classes taught in English by certified teacher. For more information go to www.yogacafe.org, send email to info@yogacafe.org or call 06 1411 7513. PIANO LESSONS in A’dam with experienced teacher. Reasonable prices. Late beginners welcome. Contact teomusthe@hotmail.com or call 06 2510 4076. PHOTOSHOP LESSONS Photo editing, effects, graphic design, tips & tricks. Email dizzycgro@yahoo.com or call 06 2816 3169. DRAWING & PAINTING workshops by professional artist. Various techniques, all styles. For info contact 681 3067 or joneiselin@hetnet.nl. DRAWING COURSES Are you awake? Part of you remains asleep. With this drawing course you will develop right side of your brain, where creativity, powers of concentration & intution lie. This winter open your eyes & see how easy drawing is. Small groups. Tussen de Bogen.
Amsterdam Weekly
30 Isabel: 06 2635 4814/isalpola89@hotmail.com. SELF-DEFENSE Tues 20.3022.00 in Amsterdam Dance Centre, Bellamystraat 49-51. For more info call 061892 0549 or 620 7442. SIVANANDA HATHA YOGA All levels, drop-in basis, Mon 20.1521.45, Tues 10.00-11.30, €10/lesson and €8 trial. Pregnancy yoga for all stages of pregnancy, Thur 17.45-19.15, ?50 for 4-class card (valid for 6 wks). Contact Burcin Ozyurek: 06 4116 7646 or burcinozyurek@yahoo.com or www.aurora-holistic-center.nl.
LANGUAGES LANGUAGE COACH Would speaking Dutch make you feel better? Call 625 3231 or go to www.talencoach.com. INTENSIVE DUTCHCOURSES are not only for summertime. At Joost Weet Het! the sun always shines. Our new intensive courses start 20 Nov. Classes 4 x 4 hrs per week for €7.5 per hour. 2, 3 or 4 weeks course. All levels. Call 420 8146 or visit www.JOOSTWEETHET.NL or email info@ aprenderholandes.nl.
16-22 November 2006 dreams, etc. Must like weed, dining, getting backrub and footrub, etc. Rub and hang out, talking, TV, riding, travelling, boating. Looking for fun-loving girl, long hair. Ilene call 06 4656 4369.
LEARNING DUTCH THETHE EASY WAY Joost Weet Het! offers classes on various levels. Learn that easy Dutch grammar in your own rhythm. Fun classes with emphasis on conversation. And, not expensive! 2 months for €200 (evening classes, 2x2 hrs p/wk). Call 420 8146 or visit us at WWW.JOOSTWEETHET.NL. IMPROVE YOUR DUTCHLink Taal Studio, a professional way to learn Dutch in private & small groups, starting every week, Vijzelgracht 51-55. For more info contact 06 4133 9323 or linktaalstudio@gmail.com. DUTCH COURSESNew evening courses starting in Nov, centre of A’dam. €200-250 for 20 hrs. Visit www.mercuurtaal.nl or call 693 4250. DUTCH LESSONS Improve conversation or for professional purposes or studies, NT2, indiv lessons,€15/hr and intensive courses and online lessons/min intensive:15 hrs=€187.50. Adults & children. http://home.tiscali.nl/stylusphant/indexdutch.html, excellentdutch @hotmail.com, call 06 3612 2870. LANGUAGE EXCHANGE My
Greek for your Dutch. Interested? Call Theo on 06 2510 4076.
MUSICIANS SINGER WANTED Rocksmith seeksvocalistwholovestheWho, Free, Cream and Hendrix, for performances in and around A’dam. Contact Bruce on 428 6172. SONG & DANCE WORKSHOP Swinging with your voice. In this workshop we experiment and improvise with voice and movement. Through improvisation of sound, rhythm, melody, text and movements you create your own song. Call 419 8389. DJ FOR PARTIESElectro, minimal,
house DJ looking for place to play. Private parties or whatever you like. Can bring my own equipment! Contact 06 3823 8470 or Ivan_Kadelburg @yahoo.co.uk.
Have gig during Cannibus Cup that pays in weed. More money gigs coming. Call 06 3844 4074 or email romancinthearts@yahoo.com.
BAND RECORDINGS Sound engineer student currently looking for bands to record. Great for bands that want demo for free! Interested in recording anything, the weirder the better! Send email to insanereason@gmail.com.
VOCAL COACHINGSinger, songwriter offers vocal coaching/confidence and song-writing skills sessions. Call 06 5210 1547 or visit www.dvoradavis.com.
BASS PLAYER WANTEDMust be familiar with jazz standards, blues, rock, and other styles of music. Must be willing to practice and get a good tight sound.
STEM IN BEWEGINGWorkshop zang en beweging. Iedereen die nieuwsgierig is naar de mogelijkheden van stem, zang & beweging en die op zoek is naar diepgang in het werken met de stem. info@steminbeweging.nl of 419 8389.
PERSONALS SEEK ASIAN/ISLAND wife under 26 y.o. Handsome, athletic, selfemployed American Caucasian, 36. Call Jon on 06 2816 7325. ESTABLISH FRIENDSHIP Handsome, intelligent black American man attracted to and seeks to correspond with women who work within framework of sexindustry. To establish friendships and exchange ideas of the limitless possibilities, please contact me: Joseph Kennedy 722620, WSR-D225, PO Box 777, Monroe, WA 98272, USA. PT OR FT WIFE/MATE/GIRL of my
STALKING GIRL To girl biking Stadhoudersk to Waterlooplein 11 Nov. Was stalking you w/ my annoying friend. I’d say you’re pretty in Norwegian. Places I’m going to be in week 46: 12.22: Muntpl. Thur 12.40: Dam. Fri 19.00: De Balie. Sat 13.00: Rozengr. 44, 20.00: Prinsengr 191. stalker@bark4000.com, 06 1619 2088.
ANNOUNCEMENTS SPANISH? The association of Spanish Professionals in NL has the pleasure to invite you to the Constitution Act that will take place on 21 Nov. For more details please visit our website www.profesionalesholanda.org. ANY JENGA FREAKS in town? Need giant-sized jenga-game to be used in competitions. Will discuss fair price providing it’s in good condition. Call Matthew on 06 6110 2887. For those unfamiliar with Jenga, suffice to say it’s best played in an Irish bar
where all specimens are a little loopy from the drink. HATE LIFE What is the hate of your life? Is it an animal, person, object, hobby or something else? Share the thing that drives you mad. To be filmed for documentary and music video. Email loveandhatefilm@gmail.com. LOVE LIFE What is the love of your life? Is it an animal, person, object, hobby or something else? Share the thing that you get passionate about. To be filmed for documentary and music video. Email loveandhatefilm@gmail.com. NEW HOME FOR SPICE: 13month-old expat cat needs new home with garden and no other cats. Please mail to wickedcat8@yahoo.com. RADIO TALENT WANTED Consider yourself witty, charming & capable of giving great vox? Think there should be more coverage of global LGBT issues? Join Alien, A’dam’slongest-runningEnglishspoken radio show, with 2 hrs of queer politics, culture & gossip live on MVS every Sun. Interested? Email alien.hq@gmail.com.