Gerlinda Heywegen
(1968) is a programmer, writer, organizer, lecturer and podcaster, mainly on the subject of film and often in combination with literature. She programs for Film by the Sea in Vlissingen and the Winternachten festival. She founded Koning Film, a collective of film experts on various subjects, from music to philosophy. Heywegen's books include The Other Director, about eight directors of photography; she collaborated with Frans Westra on Passie voor Cinema (Passion for Cinema), which highlights four decades of film screenings in the Netherlands; and she edited and wrote for the film magazine Skrien. Currently, she writes regularly for the websites of the Netherlands Society of Cinematographers and Elders Literair.
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Archive available for: Gerlinda Heywegen
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When did it all go terribly wrong? Or did it?
With: Gerlinda Heywegen, Pola Oloixarac
Mona, by Argentinian author Pola Oloixarac, reads almost like a film. The book pokes fun at the literary in-crowd, is both feminist and violent, and at times deeply weird... Festival programmer and film editor Gerlinda Heywegen did a deep dive into Mona and sought out film clips that connect, challenge and clash. By watching and discussing these clips with Oloixarac, the funny, cynical universe of protagonist Mona came to life. Was this at all comfortable? Not likely! But certainly it was exciting. Did you come to PIP then you got to know Mona in word and image!
English spoken.
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She-Room: When does she rule, or does she at all?
What space do women take up on the silver screen? How visible or invisible are they? What do we see of Woman in cinema, and how do we see them? In this film program, editor and programmer Gerlinda Heywegen took you on a journey of discovery. On screen, women are excluded, sexualized, denied, admired, objectified, magnified or minimized - but seldom shown as a human being. They are madonna or whore, myth or housewife. We see their screen-filling curves and shattered dreams. And where do we mostly see women? Standing in the kitchen or galloping through a vast landscape? What are they doing, if anything? What sort of space is made for and by her?
We watched and listened to this cinematic essay in which we traveled all over the world, a world full of women on screen - women who sounded sad, got angry but also (promise!) made you laugh and offered hope. We let ourselves be guided through a crazy filmic world with dark, hilarious, classic and toxic examples. We were served with movie fragments from i.e. The Piano (Jane Campion), Irréversible (Gaspar Noé), Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (Céline Sciamma) Nostalghia (Andrei Tarkovski) and Titane (Julia Ducourneau). When does she rule, or does she at all? was the subject of this cinematic essay in which Gerlinda Heywegen welded together and explained film clips.
Dutch spoken.
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Love, hate, whatever! It's all about me!
With: Arnon Grunberg, Gerlinda Heywegen
Mel Brooks - isn't he the director of films like Spaceballs and Blazing Saddles? Someone you love or... just not?
That's right! Thursday evening 17 March was all about the American actor, comedian, film director, screenwriter and producer, known for his persiflage and satirical jokes. Based on film fragments, Writers Unlimited film editor Gerlinda Heywegen and writer Arnon Grunberg discussed the phenomenon Mel Brooks.
Arnon Grunberg saw Brooks' first film The Producers (1968) at the right time and in the right place: just after he moved to New York. The film made a great impression on Grunberg. Not least because of its outspoken humour typically New Yorker, according Brooks himself.
Hollywood and show business were central to this programme. Mel Brooks honoured and persiflated many film genres with his satire. He turned a failed musical about Hitler into a film story (The Producers) and morphed the western (Blazing Saddles), the horror genre (Young Frankenstein) and science fiction (Spaceballs) to his own universe. And then, of course, there is Hitler. Hitler whom he took revenge on, time and again, by making fun of him endlessly.
If you stand on a soapbox and trade rhetoric with a dictator you never win...That's what they do so well: they seduce people. But if you ridicule them, bring them down with laughter, they can't win. You show how crazy they are. - Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks' autobiography, All about me, was recently published, and with more than 450 pages, he isn't going anywhere. Grunberg and Heywegen both praised and detested Brooks. They both agree that he is more than just a joke, but after that, opinions soon differed: love, hate, whatever! It's all about Brooks!
Dutch-language programme.
Programme composed by Gerlinda Heywegen (Writers Unlimited). Book sale by De Vries Van Stockum Boeken. -
1984: War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength
With: Arnon Grunberg, Gerlinda Heywegen
Writers Unlimited presented the filmprogram 1984: War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength. The world-famous dystopian future novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (aka 1984) by George Orwell from 1949 and its film adaptions give a gloomy world view, which is regularly referred to even now, in "corona times". With quotes and film fragments, novelist, columnist, essayist, poet and screenwriter Arnon Grunberg and film editor of Writers Unlimited Gerlinda Heywegen discussed 1984.
"The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth." - 1984
Increasing government control, fake news, hoaxes, algorithms lead to confusion and even revolt. How current is Nineteen Eighty-Four after more than seventy years? Are "we" in 2021 being controlled to such an extent that it can lead to a 1984? Does technological progress make it possible and is our world capable of it? What does Orwell's research of humanity mean for our time?
"In 1984 there is a very powerful element in which the government can create an alternative reality," says Michael Newton, lecturer in English literature at Leiden University. "The truth becomes something pliable, which you can prescribe an alternative version of." - nu.nlThe 1984 television adaptation was first broadcast by the BBC on December 12, 1954, and then repeated live on December 16. Viewers were shocked by Orwell's vision of a future authoritarian state and by the scenes in which the hero Winston Smith was tortured in the infamous Room 101. Complaints poured in and questions were asked in The Parliament. The BBC rerun would almost have been cancelled: the broadcast went ahead with 1 vote in favour. When it was broadcast a few days later, it immediately attracted the largest number of viewers ever. Years later, in 2000, Nineteen Eighty-Four ranked seventy-third of the 100 best British television programs of the 20th century.
Dutch filmprogram.
Event curated by Gerlinda Heywegen (Writers Unlimited)
Books for sale courtesy of De Vries Van Stockum Books
Please note!- It is mandatory to show an identity card and a corona admission ticket at the entrance.
- The corona admission ticket is mandatory for adults and children older than 13 years.
- There is a maximum occupancy of 75% in Studio B, Central Library.
- When entering the Central Library, wearing a face mask is mandatory. This can be taken off again when you take your seat in the venue.
- In the event of cancellation due to corona complaints, we return the purchase amount.
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Eva Meijer: Depression in Times of Madness - #SoulCare
With: Eva Meijer, Gerlinda Heywegen
Just as clearly as in her essay De grenzen van mijn taal, een klein filosofisch onderzoek naar depressie (The borders of my language, a small philosophical study about depression, published by Cossee, 2019) writer Eva Meijer talks about depression in this Winternachten festival programme by Gerlinda Heywegen. On the basis of some film fragments in which depression plays a role, Meijer indicates, among other things, the role language plays in thinking about and showing depression.
Eva Meijer's essay is not a self-help book, autobiographical report or medical publication. She says in this interview: 'I wanted to do something different. I wanted to explore the meaning of depression. I am particularly interested in what the experience of depression actually is. How does it feel to be depressed and can you explain that to others? With the help of language and philosophers and artists, I wanted to capture some of that meaning. The experience of depression, also my own, is central in this."
Winternachten international literature festival The Hague 2021 had as its theme It's up to us. In January of that year writers, poets and word artists from The Netherlands and abroad showed in live streamed programmes how they pay attention in their work to issues like climate justice, women's rights, soul care and activism.
Eva Meijer (Netherlands) is a visual artist, philosopher, writer and singer-songwriter. After publishing short stories and poetry in Dutch literary magazines, her debut novel Het schuwste dier (The Shyest Animal), about coping with a sudden death, appeared in 2011. In Dagpauwoog (Day Peacock's Eye, 2013), the protagonist ends up in a grey area between idealism and terror due to a love of animals. Het vogelhuis (The Birdhouse, 2016) portrays the profound passion for birds of a British woman, Gwendolen Howard. De soldaat was een dolfijn (The Soldier was a Dolphin), an essay about political animals, came out in 2017. In 2018, Meijer was awarded the Halewijn Prize for her oeuvre. After a philosophical treatise on depression, De grenzen van mijn taal (The Limits of my Language), the novel Voorwaarts (Onward), and the academic study When Animals Speak: Towards an Interspecies Democracy (all in 2019), she published the novel De nieuwe rivier (The New River), a magical-realist murder mystery, in 2020.
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Rosabelle Illes: On Visibly Invisible stories
Aruban writer, poet, spoken word artist Rosabelle Illes loves film and sometimes mentions it in her poetry, stories and videos. The question which images come to mind in relation to her own work, is central in this conversation with moderator Gerlinda Heywegen.
Expected: the film about a long-running television soap opera starring an actor you wouldn't expect, plays the leading role here, alongside Illes. And the fact that Virginia Woolf is important to her and that she dared to write short stories alongside her poems because of her oeuvre, brings her, for example, to The Hours (Stephen Daldry, 2002 after Michael Cunningham's book), the feature film that connects Woolf and her Mrs. Dalloway so beautifully.
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Film: Writer Vamba Sherif on Imgages of Africa
In this film programme with moderator Gerlinda Heywegen writer Vamba Sherif talks about the work of Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène, who is seen as a key figure in post-colonial African cinema.
Sherif about Sembène: "His films were a way not only to decolonise the African spirit but also to point out and criticize the relationship between Africa and the West with a keen eye. The excerpts are from the documentary made by Kenyan literary and social activist Ngūgi wa Thiong'o, whose work plays a central role in this edition of Winternachten, about Sèmbene's life. Furthermore, clips from films such as Abouna (2002) by the Chadian filmmaker Mahamat-Saleh Haroun and Med Hondo's Soleil Ō will be shown.
This programme is followed by the screening of the film choice of Sherif, Heremakono by Abderrahmane Sissako. -
Film: Colony of Images
Films are made all over the world. They "speak" a universal language but are also culturally determined. In Colony of Images, Gerlinda Heywegen shows just how free film actually is and how it particularly wants to give us, the public, that impression. The film excerpts, both good and bad, such as colonization films shot in the Congo and contemporary arthouse fare (i.e. Claire Denis' Beau travail and White Material, both shot in Africa), colour this lecture, which perhaps asks more questions than it answers. Because the world, and certainly the world of film, is a colony of images. How important is it to decolonize film, to remove (offensive) stereotypes? When does a film exclude or oppress, and when is it inclusive? And is the latter even possible?
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Immortality by Choice
Philosopher Tom Dommisse shared his thoughts about immortality and illustrates them with excerpts from films like E.T., Blade Runner, Wall-E, The Matrix, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Citizen Kane. People want long lives. Science and technology help to achieve this. Sci-fi films reflect this desire and the technical possibilities, and sometimes the fantasy lies close to the reality. Think of Pixar's Wall-E, with its almost human-like robot and the people drifting around, glued to their touch-screens. Or of Orson Welles' 1941 Citizen Kane, according to many the best film ever made, in which the media magnate's lust for power coincides with a wish for eternal life.
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Till Death Do Us Part
Gerlinda Heywegen presented a film lecture with beautiful and penetrating as well as humorous excerpts. Inspired by the festival theme "Who Wants to Live Forever?" she took you on a filmic road trip around life, death and the desire for eternal life. The journey began in Hollywood with victims who must die so that the hero can live on. The woods in The Mourning Forest by Naomi Kawase are a place of grief and reflection. In the Russian film Mother and Son by Alexander Sokurov, a son accompanies his mother on her last journey. And what do we see? There is also laughter about eternal life or death in the film.
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Forever Clips Clips Clips
Writers Hanna Bervoets and Mark O'Connell and film curator Gerlinda Heywegen presented and commented on video clips, short films and excerpts from games and feature films related to the festival theme 'Who wants to live forever?' You'll see visions of the future, healing elixirs, struggles between life and death, and commercials about staying young and beautiful. Prior to 'Forever clips, clips, clips', Bervoets and O'Connell conversed in the programme 'Man-machine: And Technology created the New Human', in Hall 1 of Theater aan Het Spui, from 21.10 to 22.00h.
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Auke Hulst on writer Philip K. Dick and 'A Scanner Darkly'
Versatile author, composer and musician Auke Hulst is a fan of the American writer Philip K. Dick, who enjoys huge renown and cult status due to his prescience about the downsides of technology, consumption and hedonism. Films such as Blade Runner, Total Recall and Minority Report are based on his work. Hulst told us more about the author, his work, and why it appeals to him, as well as about his favourite film adaptation of Dick's work: A Scanner Darkly by Richard Linklater. The film will be shown as of 22.10 in Filmhuis Zaal 1.
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Leni Zumas: Why Would Women Want to Live Forever?
Why do women want to live forever? US writer and essayist Leni Zumas answered this and other questions via selected film excerpts, which she discussed with Gerlinda Heywegen. These included a fragment of the feature film Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005) by Miranda July.
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Speech!
The speech is a powerful instrument. Through its form and content it is by definition also very filmic. Christopher Nolan knows this as he uses one of the most famous speeches - Winston Churchill's We shall fight them on the beaches speech - in his film Dunkirk.
The speeches that are remembered and revered are often those that mark historical turning points. Such as Robert Kennedy who, right after Martin Luther King got murdered on April 4, 1968, finds the power to state that it is best to accept the moment hoping that we grow wiser in time. These historic speeches keep returning in movies. But how about the present day speeches? Are historic speeches something from the past?
Gerlinda Heywegen and cultural and political philosopher Tom Dommisse discussed the function and beauty of the speech, based (of course) on some well-chosen exceprts from film and television.
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Batman Nation
Time after time, superhero(in)es save the world. Strangely enough, they aren't always thanked for it. The dutiful bad guy and the people remain dissatisfied. Especially Batman keeps having a hard time.
Batman is special among superheroes because, other than a lot of money, he has no real superpowers. Depending on what the writers, cartoonists or film directors come up with, Batman seems to sometimes ruffle the feathers of the Gotham citizens. And he also regularly gets in his own way. In this wonderful Batman-program, our hero is figuratively lying on the sofa.
Fenno Werkman, famed collector of music and imagery, screens appropriate fragments from his enormous film archive. For Winternachten festival, he opens his treasure trove of Dark Knight-materials.
And heads up, there's something to be won: comic-strip artist Romano Molenaar will create a special Batman drawing for the festival, which goes to the winner of the Speed-Batman-Quiz at the end of the program.
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Marx Today
Before the screening of the feature film The Young Karl Marx, don't miss a conversation with writer and screenwriter Gustaaf Peek, whose 2017 revolutionary pamphlet Resist! A Plea for Communism calls for a reintroduction of Marx's ideas, such as the fair distribution of knowledge, power and income. Why is this highly necessary? What does Peek share with Peck? Can words and images contribute to this redistribution? Moderator: Gerlinda Heywegen.
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Power to The People: Film as Weapon
Combative cinema is known from the work of directors such as Ken Loach, Spike Lee and Michael Moore. These are directors who express anger about the world's injustice in their films. One chooses fictional film as his weapon, the other documentary film.
Different as they may be, their films stand up for us ordinary people. This program is a filmic anthology, compiled and presented by Gerlinda Heywegen, with succinct fragments which, dependent on their creator, are funny, very angry or utterly artful. Film as weapon, film about "us" and for "us". Including excerpts from Do the Right Thing, Bowling for Columbine and I, Daniel Blake.
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The Good Lawyer - with Britta Böhler
With: Britta Böhler, Gerlinda Heywegen
Lawyer Britta Böhler became famous as attorney of ao. PKK-leader Öcalan, former Dutch member of parliament Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Volkert van der Graaf, murderer of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn.
In her recently published book De goede advocaat (The Good Lawyer) she reflects upon the important questions in her profession. What qualities are essential for a good lawyer? What roles do ethics, loyalty, and social engagement play? And how should a lawyer behave towards in a more and more polarised society?
In her book, Böhler connects examples from her practice to representations of the legal profession in film and literature.
During this B-Unlimited edition, Gerlinda Heywegen interviewed Britta Böhler about her book and by means of film and television fragments: a dialogue about ethical dilemmas, as well about the way in which they can be viewed and solved.
As a lawyer Britta Böhler was involved in some of the most talked about court cases of the last decades. She was a member of the Dutch Senate and affiliate professor Advocacy. Since 2013 she writes novels and thrillers.
Note: Dutch spoken!
A programma curated by Judith Uyterlinde and Ilonka Reintjens (Writers Unlimited).
Book sale by Van Stockum Boekverkopers.
In cooperation with Cossee Publishers -
Under the Skin "Real" Life?
Bestselling Australian author Michael Faber is back in his birth city of The Hague to talk with Gerlinda Heywegen about his fascination with literary works adapted to the screen. One of the examples will be Under the Skin, his hit novel that was filmed by Michael Glazer, with Scarlett Johansson in the disturbing lead role. A screening of the film will follow; the discussion and the screening can also be attended separately.
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Might is Always Right - Lessons from House of Cards
While the United States welcome their new president, the festival is investigating another one: Frank Underwood, star of House of Cards. Philosopher Tom Dommisse wrote an article that is the basis for a discussion between The Hague Filmhuis programmer Gerlinda Heywegen and Felix Rottenberg, touching on fragments from the series. How are politics presented in the Netflix hit series and what image of themselves do real-life Underwoods create? And what is the imact of all this on how we think about politics?
Felix Rottenberg is a director, moderator, chair of the academic bureau of the PvdA labour party, and writer of a weekly column in Het Parool newspaper. -
Rodaan Al Galidi's Film Picks
Rodaan Al Galidi, who fled Iraq, is a strikingly humorous voice in Dutch literature. He has published volumes of poetry, novels, and collections of columns, and contributes in hilarious manner to the debate about the integration exam. For the festival he's made a selection of film clips, which he'll discuss with Gerlinda Heywegen. These will include excerpts from Citizen Kane (Orson Welles), La Grande Bellezza (Sorentino), Der Untergang (Hirschbiegel) and Holy Motors (Léos Carax).
Rodaan Al Galidi replaces Tariq Ali, who had to cancel his appearance for health reasons.
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The Film Picks of P.F. Thomése
P.F. Thomése is a versatile writer who constantly changes his tone, from Schaduwkind (Shadow Child, 2013) to De Onderwaterzwemmer (Underwater Swimmer, 2015). A film by Erik de Bruyn based on J.Kessels, The Novel premiered at the Dutch Film Festival; it features the author's favourite recurring character in all his smoking and junk-food-devouring glory.Tonight Thomése explains his film picks in a conversation with film conoisseur Gerlinda Heywegen. Of course we'll also view his chosen clips, among others from The Silence (Bergman), Otto e Mezzo (Fellini), Goodfellas (Scorsese) and The Big Lebowski (Coen brothers).
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Film: Shakespeare's villains
If you want to understand today's bad guys, take a look at the characters Shakespeare created four centuries ago. We can easily recognize Putin, Saddam Hussein or Eichmann in characters from Macbeth, Hamlet or Richard III. These are bad people acting from clear motives like jealousy, passion, rage, blind ambition, or bitterness. Shakespeare scholar and philosopher Tom Dommisse introduces the villains in clips from screen adaptations from countries like Russia, Japan, Great Britain and the United States. Film connoisseur Gerlinda Heywegen engages him in discussion.
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Don't Look Now - films to scare you silly
An anthology of the mechanisms behind "delicious" horror. Presenter and film conoisseur Gerlinda Heywegen leads you through the depths of cinematic hell via clips from various genres. Whether that hell is called Wall Street or Mordor, or whether the horror lurks in a shark or in an (almost) invisible monster, why do we love to watch scary scenes on the big screen? Even when we're reduced to peeping between our fingers? How do directors manage to make us quake in our seats?
