# List of Dutch documentary films

A Dutch documentary film is a documentary film made by a director of (partly) Dutch origin. Dutch documentary films are not necessarily bound to Dutch topics or locations in the Netherlands.

## History
### Before 1945

The short film Inhuldiging Koningin Wilhelmina te Amsterdam was made in 1898 and is the oldest surviving Dutch film. The first known Dutch documentary was made in 1916 by Johann Vierboom. The film Storm en noodweer in Nederland shows the 1916 flood disaster at the coasts of the Zuiderzee. Another documentary film of this era is Holland Neutraal: De leger- en vlootfilm (1917) by Willy Mullens. One of the most famous Dutch documentary film directors is Joris Ivens. Ivens started making his own films in 1928. The first was an avant-garde look at a Rotterdam bridge, The Bridge (De brug, 1928). His later films were more realistic, socially concerned and polemical. The Spanish Earth (1937) is one of his most famous films. In order to make internationally oriented documentaries, Ivens travelled to countries such as the Soviet Union, Spain, China, Australia and the United States.

### 1945-1965

After the 2nd World war, films of the acclaimed documentary film directors Bert Haanstra and Herman van der Horst dominated Dutch cinema. Their work is internationally known as the ‘Dutch Documentary School’. A feature of the documentary films of this era is the use of human beings as a metaphor. Van der Horst and Haanstra both won prizes at the Cannes Film Festival.
Van der Horst's most famous movie is Faja Lobbi (1960), while Haanstra gained international fame for his renowned documentary Alleman (The Human Dutch, 1963). Other directors of the Dutch Documentary School are Charles Huguenot van der Linden, and John Fernhout.

### After 1965

After the era of the Dutch Documentary School, Dutch documentaries lost their uniformity. Instead of forming a group, joining forces and sharing stylistic trademarks, filmmakers mostly worked on independent projects or projects for television networks. Contemporary documentary directors have produced a wide variety of works. Contemporary directors with international successes are Jos de Putter, Heddy Honigmann, Johan van der Keuken and Leonard Retel Helmrich. In the late 20th century, documentary films are mainly shown on Dutch television networks, although some cinemas and art houses show Dutch documentary films. Nowadays, internet provides worldwide access to Dutch documentary films displayed online.

## Dutch organizations regarding documentary films
### Dutch funds

* The Netherlands Film Fund offers financial support to develop, actualize and distribute documentary film productions, designated for cinema.
* Mediafonds offers subsidy for the development and production of, among other things, documentary films by public broadcasting.

### Online broadcasting

* Holland Doc 24 is a Dutch digital documentary channel. The channel is continuously broadcasting sections of multiple public broadcasting channels, including the programs VPRO's Import, Zembla, Tegenlicht, NCRV Dokument, Profiel, Reporter and Het uur van de Wolf.
* The Docsonline Foundation is an independent, Dutch non-profit organization with a mission to support professional documentary makers financially by exposing their work on a wide international scale to a paying audience. The foundation organizes a documentary on-demand website which provides a collection of over 400 documentary films.

### Film festivals

The following Dutch film festivals are known to show (Dutch) documentary films:
* International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, the world's largest documentary film festival held annually in Amsterdam.
* Netherlands Film Festival, an annual film festival held in Utrecht. Dutch film productions are exhibited, including documentaries.
* International Film Festival Rotterdam, an annual film festival held in Rotterdam
* Beeld voor Beeld festival in Amsterdam is an annual documentary film festival with a main focus on ethnographic film.
* Movies that matter Festival is an annual film festival, emphasizing on documentary films about human rights.

## List of Dutch documentary films

| title | director | year |
| Unknown Brood | Dennis Alink | 2016 |
| Are All Men Pedophiles? | Jan-Willem Breure | 2012 |
| A philosopher for all seasons | Benny Brunner | 1991 |
| Across the border | Saskia Vredeveld | 1999 |
| Al nakba | Benny Brunner | 1997 |
| Andre Hazes, Zij gelooft in mij | John Appel | 1999 |
| Ave Maria | Nouchka van Brakel | 2006 |
| Between heaven and hell | Joost Seelen | 2002 |
| Birthplace Unknown | Karin Junger | 1988 |
| Boys | Menna Laura Meijer | 2005 |
| Bram | Joost Verheij | 1993 |
| Broken Silence | Eline Flipse | 1996 |
| Cannot run away | Hillie Molenaar & Joop van Wijk | 1988 |
| Child of the commune | Maroesja Perizonius | 2004 |
| Crossroads | Hillie Molenaar & Joop van Wijk | 1997 |
| Dana Lixenberg, thru Dutch eyes | Pieter van der Houwen | 1999 |
| Daughters of the Nile | Hillie Molenaar & Joop van Wijk | 1982 |
| De brug | Joris Ivens | 1928 |
| Deacon of Death | Jan van den Berg | 2004 |
| Democracy's dilemma | Ijsbrand van Veelen & Dorothee Forma | 2007 |
| Desi | Maria Ramos | 2000 |
| Duende | Ramon Gieling | 1986 |
| Dutch touch | Ulrike Helmer | 2006 |
| Electronic curtain | Walther Grotenhuis | 1997 |
| En passant | Mirjam Boelsums & Lony Scharenborg | 2003 |
| Faja Lobbi | Herman van der Horst | 1960 |
| Fatal reaction Bombay | Marijke Jongbloed | 1998 |
| Fatal reaction Moscow | Marijke Jongbloed | 2000 |
| Fatal reaction New York | Marijke Jongbloed | 1996 |
| Fatal reaction Singapore | Marijke Jongbloed | 1996 |
| Finding courage | Joop van Wijk | 2004 |
| First Kill | Coco Schrijber | 2001 |
| Fokking hell! | Peter ter Velde, Eric Feijten & Hans Stakelbeek | 2010 |
| Food is waste | Rob van Hattum | 2007 |
| Grito de piedra | Ton van Zantvoort | 2006 |
| Hans: Het Leven Voor De Dood | Louis van Gasteren | 1983 |
| Holland neutraal, de leger- en vlootfilm | Willy Mullens | 1917 |
| I'm Never Afraid! | Willem Baptist | 2010 |
| In a white man's land | Kim Landstra | 2000 |
| It is no dream | Benny Brunner & Joseph Rochlitz | 2002 |
| Isingiro Hospital | Hillie Molenaar & Joop van Wijk | 1992 |
| Juggernaut | Rob Das | 2003 |
| Lockerbie Revisited | Gideon Levy | 2005 |
| Lomax the Songhunter | Rogier Kappers | 2005 |
| Grenzeloze Liefde - Made in Africa | Puck de Leeuw | 1999 |
| Grenzeloze Liefde - Made in Japan | Puck de Leeuw | 1996 |
| Lust for gold | Joost Kraanen | 1990 |
| Made in China | Eline Flipse | 2005 |
| Mama Calle | Arjanne Laan | 1990 |
| Miss interpreted, Marlene Dumas | Rudolf Everhuis & Joost Verheij | 1997 |
| My beloved country | Saskia Vredeveld | 1991 |
| Nostalgia for death | Ramon Gieling | 1992 |
| On the threshold of oblivion | Tom Verheul | 2003 |
| Pool | Mirjam Boelsums & Lony Scharenborg | 1999 |
| Prison blues | Saskia Vredeveld | 2002 |
| Procedure 769, witness to an execution | Jaap van Hoewijk | 1995 |
| Punk, forever | Alfred de Boer | 1996 |
| Purple hearts | VPRO | 2004 |
| Rex Gildo, the fall of a schmalz king | Hans Heijnen | 2003 |
| Rock 'n roll junkie | Eilander, v.d. Bosch, v.d. Lee & v.d. Sterre | 1994 |
| Romania, the taming of intellectuals | Benny Brunner | 1990 |
| Rouch's gang | Joost Verheij | 1998 |
| Sark, small world | Joost Seelen | 2002 |
| Selfportrait, Roger Ballen | Sasia Vredeveld | 2002 |
| Smile and wave | Marijke Jongbloed | 2003 |
| Sport, a mental issue | Lies Niezen | 2000 |
| Storm en noodweer in Nederland | Johann Vierboom | 1916 |
| Sunny spells | Ruud Monster | 1987 |
| Tabee toean | Tom Verheul | 1995 |
| That paradise will be mine | Merel Beernink | 2005 |
| The concrete curtain | Benny Brunner | 2005 |
| The daily nation | Hillie Molenaar & Joop van Wijk | 2000 |
| The factory | Hillie Molenaar & Joop van Wijk | 1981 |
| The forgery | Arjanne Laan | 2001 |
| The Human Dutch | Bert Haanstra | 1963 |
| The making of a new empire | Jos de Putter | 1999 |
| The new silver | Alexandra Jansse | 2005 |
| The price of cotton | Karin Junger | 2005 |
| The return | Joost Verheij | 1990 |
| The seventh million | Benny Brunner | 1995 |
| The Spanish Earth | Joris Ivens | 1937 |
| The truth according to Wikipedia | Ijsbrand van Veelen | 2008 |
| The tunnel and other lies | Vuk Janic | 2005 |
| The wall | Benny Brunner | 2003 |
| The war on drugs | VPRO | 2003 |
| Treatment for traitors | Ike Bertels | 1983 |
| Valley of sighs | Carin Goeijers | 2004 |
| Velo negro | Arjanne Laan | 1996 |
| Voices of Bam | Aliona v.d. Horst & Maasja Ooms | 2006 |
| Water and fire | Joost Seelen | 1998 |
| Year 1, Alan Reeve after thirty years of imprisonment | Joost Seelen | 1993 |