Jos Stelling - Dutch director: biography, filmography

Jos Stelling - director, screenwriter, producer from the Netherlands. The world famous for his films "Girl and Death" and "Illusionist". What do you know about Dutch cinema? In Northern Europe has developed its special attitude to the cinema. European films are neither like Russian nor Hollywood films. The directors of Northern Europe have their own special style.

Jos Stelling is the most Dutch director of all who live there. His style in the movie is not like any of the famous. In 2007, the film "Dushka" was released in Russian distribution with Sergei Makovetsky in the title role. This film was directed by Jos Stelling.

Biography: early years

The future director was born on July 16, 1945 in the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands. His parents were the most ordinary people, his father was a baker by profession. Jos, like all children, went to school, played with other boys in the yard. Once, when the boy was nine years old, he found 35 mm film on the street. The film was sticky from the water and unfit. Jos kept his find in a box and did not show it to anyone. Sometimes, when someone was interested in the contents of the box, he began to invent and tell stories that, according to him, were stored in the box.

At the school where the future director studied, films of famous Italian film masters were shown on Sundays. With each new film, the boy fell in love with cinema more and more. Subsequently, the Italian school of cinema will have the greatest impact on Stelling's work.

After graduating from school, Jos decided to study as a director. In the Netherlands at that time there were no educational institutions providing such an education. The guy had no choice but to study the history and basics of cinema independently.

First films

When the guy learned the basics of cinema, he decided at all costs to make his own film. He had a script and a great desire, but there was no money and equipment. As actors in the film, the novice director invited his friends. So the first full-length film of Jos was shot "Mariken from Nijmegen." The film was released in 1974. At the box office, the picture paid off and attracted the attention of the audience. Quite unexpectedly for everyone, Stelling’s work fell into the main program of the Cannes Film Festival.

Inspired by the success, the newly-made Dutch director took up the next film. In 1975, the film "Elkerlik" was released. He also starred with a low budget and unprofessional actors. This time the audience reacted to the picture rather sluggishly, despite the director’s loud name after the Cannes Film Festival - Jos Stelling.

The films that the director further shot were already with a solid budget and with professional actors. In 1977, the picture "Rembrandt. Portrait of 1669" was released. The film about the life of a famous artist was warmly received by film critics and even received several awards.

Illusionist

In 1983, the movie "Illusionist" by Jos Stelling was released. This picture made the director famous around the world because of its unusualness. There is almost no talk in the film. Much importance is given to the atmosphere in which the main action takes place. Jos carefully selected colors and music for each scene, as a result of which he got something truly mesmerizing. The director will actively use the technique of working with music and color from The Illusionist in his subsequent works.

Jos tells his viewers that dialogue is not very appropriate in the movie. Cinema, in his opinion, is closer in form to music than to literature. Conversations are born of reason, they are usually balanced and thought out. Stelling is more likely to shoot what is born in the heart, not in the brain, feelings, not the mind. Jos believes that other directors should pay more attention to the feelings in their films, follow the music of the heart.

The film "Illusionist" won the Golden Calf Award at the Netherlands Film Festival in the category "Best Film". Critics also really liked the new creation of the master.

At the peak of a career

The top of the master’s creativity at the moment is considered the films that Stelling made immediately after the “Illusionist”. This is the picture “Strelochnik”, released in 1986, and the picture “The Flying Dutchman,” released in 1995. These two works, according to leading film critics, are among the hundred best films in the history of cinema.

Switchman

"Switchman" tells the audience the story of a man who works as a switchman on the railway. He spends his life alone until a lost passenger appears near his house. She settles at the switchman and turns his world upside down. The “Strelochnik” was so liked by European film critics that it not only received a lot of positive reviews in the press, but also earned a special mention of the Venice Film Festival.

Flying Dutchman

The painting "The Flying Dutchman" is not similar to the rest of the work of Jos, it differs in its grand scale. There are a lot of characters, quite a lot of dialogue. The action takes place in the 16th century, during the Inquisition. The flying Dutchman in the film is not a ship, but a man. The film shows the story of his journey, the story of overcoming obstacles and vicissitudes of fate, the story of achieving his goal. The key theme of the film is loneliness. Jos Stelling in an interview often says that he does not shoot different films, but the same film all his life. The main theme of all his works is loneliness.

The Flying Dutchman was nominated for the Golden Lion of the Venice Film Festival, but received no award.

Late work

The film "No Train, No Aircraft" was released in 1999. The audience well received this picture of the Dutch director. Critics described the work as a "comedy of the absurd" because of grotesque characters, vivid colors in the frame and special music.

In 2007, the film "Dushka" was released. This is a picture of the joint production of Belgium, Russia, the Netherlands and Ukraine. In the CIS countries, this film was very positively greeted not only by Jos's excellent director, but also by the talented play of actor Sergei Makovetsky, who played the main role in the film. Many Russian and Ukrainian actors were involved in the filming of the picture.

Film critics did not leave “Darling” without attention. The film was nominated for several prestigious awards, including the prize of the European Academy of Motion Picture Arts.

In 2012, cooperation between Russia and the Netherlands in the field of film production continued. The screens of the new film by Jos Stelling, "Girl and Death." Director "Jos Stelling" subsequently calls this work his "bow to Russian literature."

"Girl and Death" today - the last picture of the Dutch genius. Stelling does not speak about new films yet. Now for a movie director it’s not a job, but rather a hobby, or, as he himself says on this subject: “Cinema is paradise.”