Johan van der Keuken Movies

Face Value is a film combining a conscious approach with spontaneity, and contemplation with action. It presents us with the differing views of a region we call “Europe”, an imaginary Europe situated somewhere between London, Marseilles, Prague and the Netherlands.

An short anti-cruise missile film created in collaboration with a group of filmmakers.

The indomitable laughter of a radical. A collage. Third of four in a series for the VPRO.

A musical comedy. One God creates the world, the other destroys the creation and hopes to make a better job of it.

Johan van der Keuken's film was made to celebrate the 10th anniversary of De Melkweg (The Milky Way). De Melkweg is a multimedia venue in Amsterdam, which was established in the spirit of the ’60s, and became an international centre of counter-culture.

Film essay about the slums of 1960's Amsterdam.

The opening segment for a planned larger documentary by Johan van der Keuken. Unfortunately, this is all that was completed before his death. These are small portraits of people he met during his travels.

Three-part film about the Dutch painter and poet Lucebert who died in 1994. Director Johan van der Keuken made three short films about his friend and inspiration Lucebert. The black-and-white film Lucebert, dichter-schilder was shot in 1962 on a very low budget. In 1967 Een film voor Lucebert was...

In the late sixties, the American saxophone player and living jazz legend Ben Webster lived in Amsterdam for a year. Webster, who was born in Kansas City in 1909, was a unique personality in the world of jazz and blues. In the thirties, he played with all the great names. During his Amsterdam...

Van der Keuken follows the creative process of Lucebert, a Dutch painter annex poet. Episode four of four in a series for the VPRO.

Following in the footsteps of his uncle, this film documents the last days of Johan van der Keuken.

In his very first ‘independent film’, Dutch master filmmaker Johan Van der Keuken presents an image of Amsterdam in the sixties. He set out taking just his camera, without any pre-defined concept. The result is a poetic observation of Amsterdam by a deeply committed filmmaker.

This film is a playful and experimental film object. The images of several films by Johan van der Keuken are mounted in a rhythmic and circular way to emphasize the repetition and similarity of the gestures they give to see: the daily gestures of men and women at work, throughout the world.

Short documentary about Yrrah, the ruthless illustrator who was always giggling. First of four in a series for the VPRO.

The tools people adopt to try and control nature. In parallel with the early history of Van der Keuken's child.

Last Words: My Sister Yoka (1998) is the director's tribute to his sister, who speaks to the camera just days before she dies of cancer.

Two years after making his film BLIND KIND, Van der Keuken contacted the blind boy that had impressed him most at the time.

A "revolutionary theater" troupe from North Vietnam performs in Amsterdam.

A spew of images swarm the screen; appearing before no answers-man and his machinery, denuded wholly of its grace and beauty.

One of Van der Keuken's earliest fictional shorts.