The Netherlands Film Festival is an annual film festival, held in September and October of each year in the city of Utrecht. During the ten-day festival, Dutch film productions and co-productions are exhibited. Besides feature films, the program also consists of short subjects, documentary films, and television productions. On the closing evening of the festival, the Golden Calves are awarded to the best films, directors, and actors. Together with the Netherlands Film Fund, the festival also recognises box office results of Dutch film productions during the year with the Crystal Film (10,000 visitors of documentary films), Golden Film (100,000 visitors), Platinum Film (400,000 visitors), and Diamond Film (1,000,000 visitors).

History

The Netherlands Film Festival was founded in 1981 by the Dutch film maker Jos Stelling, who called it the "Netherlands Film Days" (Nederlandse Filmdagen). Initially, the festival was oriented towards film makers only, but it gradually reached a broader audience. The 36th edition of the festival, in 2016, attracted more than 150,000 visitors.

Canon of Dutch cinema

In 2007, the festival presented their Canon of Dutch Cinema, (Canon van de Nederlandse Film), containing sixteen monumental films in Dutch film history. The list included the following films:

Special guests

Since 1992, the festival organisation invites a special guest, usually a respected director or actor in the Dutch film business.

Awards

Besides the Golden Calves the Festival also has its own special awards.

Opening films