Name Martin Koolhoven | TV shows De Wereld Draait Door | |
 | ||
Full Name Martinus Wouter Koolhoven Partner Tallulah H. Schwab (1993–) Awards Golden Calf for Best Director, Golden Calf Audience Award Nominations Golden Calf for Best Script, Golden Calf for Best Television Drama Movies Winter in Wartime, Brimstone, Schnitzel Paradise, Bonkers, 'N Beetje Verliefd Similar People Martijn Lakemeier, Yorick van Wageningen, Jan Terlouw, Raymond Thiry, Mimoun Oaissa | ||
Belleoog presents martin koolhoven director
Martinus Wouter "Martin" Koolhoven (born 25 April 1969) is a Dutch film director and screenwriter. He directed the Dutch-language films Schnitzel Paradise (2005), Knetter (2005), 'n Beetje Verliefd (2006), and Winter in Wartime (2008). His first English-languaged film Brimstone was released in 2016.
Contents
- Belleoog presents martin koolhoven director
- Martin koolhoven over start opnames brimstone
- Early life and education
- Critical acclaim
- Commercial success
- Awards
- Filmography
- References
Martin koolhoven over start opnames brimstone
Early life and education
Martinus Wouter Koolhoven was born on 25 April 1969 in The Hague in the Netherlands
Koolhoven went to a Dutch film school and graduated in 1996.
Critical acclaim
Almost immediately, he made an impact on the Dutch film industry with his 53-minute television film Duister Licht ("Dark Light") in which the slaughtering of a pig was shown. The film was nominated twice at the Dutch Film Festival.
It was his next (and first feature length) film however that established his name, also outside of the Netherlands. Suzy Q (also made for television) became the most awarded Dutch film of 1999 and established both Koolhoven's career and that of actress Carice van Houten, who Koolhoven worked with several times in the films to come.
His first film for the cinema, AmnesiA (2001), got a small theatical release in New York City.
Koolhoven was one of the "New Faces In European Cinema" as presented at the AFI festival (Hollywood) in 2004.
Commercial success
Koolhoven started off with strongly stylized films that were all hailed by the critics, but never gained commercial success. In 2005 that changed when he went into the mainstream with Schnitzel Paradise, that not only got him rave reviews (both inside and outside the Netherlands), but was the highest grossing Dutch film of that year. The film was shown at many international film festivals (amongst them the Berlin Film Festival and the Karlovy Vary Film Festival where it was part of the Variety Critic's choice.) The film was sold to more than 20 countries, which is a remarkable amount for a Dutch film.
In the same year Koolhoven released Bonkers, which internationally became his most awarded film and performed well at the box office. He was also the first director to have two films in the Dutch box office top 20.
''n Beetje Verliefd (2006) (Happy Family) was his third hit film in two years time, earning him another Golden Film. It was followed in 2008 by Oorlogswinter (Winter in Wartime), a Dutch movie based on the hit novel by the same name, written by Jan Terlouw, which went platinum. The movie was praised by almost all critics (including Variety that wrote a raving review) and was an enormous success at the box office, being the number one movie at Christmas 2008 in The Netherlands. Winter in Wartime grossed more money than all previous movies Koolhoven made together. The movie outgrossed competing movies like The Dark Knight and Twilight and was the Dutch entry for the Academy Awards. It made the shortlist of 9 movies, but failed to get nominated. The movie is being distributed in the United States by Sony Classics.
In 2011, Koolhoven started his own production company, together with producer Els Vandevorst, called N279 Entertainment that produced several movies.
Koolhoven latest project is the thriller/western, called Brimstone, which was his first production for N279 Entertainment as a director. It premiered September 3 2016 at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival.
Awards
All his films have won awards at the Dutch Film Festival, but Koolhoven's work has also won awards in France, England, Lithuania, Egypt, Surinam, Japan, Uruguay, Italy, Spain and the Czech Republic.