NARRATIVES NA R R AT I V E S
EA ST C OAST P R E M I E RE
A REAL VERMEER Directed by Rudolf van den Berg The Netherlands / 2016 / 105 minutes In Dutch with subtitles MAIN CREDITS CAST
Jeroen Spitzenberger Lize Feryn Roeland Fernhout PRODUCERS Reinier Selen San Fu Maltha Jeroen Koolbergen SCREENWRITERS Jan Eilander Rudolf van den Berg CINEMATOGRAPHER Goert Giltay PRODUCTION DESIGNER Ben Zuydwijk COMPOSER/MUSIC André Dziezuk
Han van Meegeren is considered one of the most talented artists of the 1920’s Dutch art scene. But when he falls in love with the beautiful actress Jolanka Lakatos, wife of Holland’s most important art critic, van Meegeren makes a powerful enemy, intent on destroying him. Then, pouring salt on the wound, his wife and son leave him. Distraught, van Meegeren escapes to the south of France to work on one thing: revenge. He dedicates himself to forging a perfect Vermeer that will fool the art world and humiliate his nemesis. When it comes time to unveil the painting, however, Han must choose between revealing the truth and getting his revenge, or keeping quiet and winning Jolanka’s heart. In this period piece of high tension drama, madness and romance, A Real Vermeer is a fictionalized story of a man who, in real life, rose to infamy as one of the most ingenious art forgers of all time. Rudolf van den Berg’s first documentary, Algerian Times, became the subtext for his style of filmmaking: not to just tell a story but to express its underlying reality. With a focus on the ˝search of what cannot be found,˝ his most renowned documentaries are The Alien’s Place, Sal Santen Rebel and Hamartía. Determined to learn more about feature films, van den Berg traveled to Italy, where he was shown that the essence of film as an art form is not to simply show reality but to express the invisible dimensions of reality. His first feature film, Bastille, received the Grand Prix of Dutch film. Van den Berg’s diverse career includes the films Evenings; Looking for Eileen; The Johnsons; Tirze, and the English language films The Cold Light of Day, For My Baby, and Snapshots, starring Burt Reynolds and Julie Christi. His film Suüskind is a controversial view of the annihilation of Dutch Jewry.
BIO
Q&A PARTICIPANT *subject to change
Rudolf van den Berg
COURTESY OF SHOWING AT ORPHIUM SAUGERTIES
Fri Oct 13 8:30pm
UPSTATE FILMS WOODSTOCK
Sun Oct 15 2:00pm
30
Visit www.rudolfvandenberg.com/arealvermeer.php
WoodstockFilmFestival.org
2017