Five films from the renowned Dutch filmmaker accompanied by an exclusive, new in-depth interview.

Polymath Alex van Warmerdam (add composer, painter and designer to his list of skills) was born in the Dutch city of Haarlem in 1952. He studied graphic design and painting at Amsterdam’s Gerrit Rietveld Academy before he co-founded the Music Theatre company Hauser Orkater (1972) and The Mexican Hound Theatre Company (1980) with his brother Marc. Between 1978 and 1984 he shot a short film and two TV films before making his feature debut in 1986 with ABEL, which won the Critics Award at the Venice Film Festival. In 1992 he made the feature THE NORTHERNERS, which picked up three Felixes (for best film, music and art direction). THE DRESS (1996), which sold to more than 25 territories, won both the FIPRESCI Award at Venice and the Dutch Film Critics’ Award at the Netherlands Film Festival. This was the first film made with Graniet Film, the company he set up with brother Marc van Warmerdam in 1993. Success continued with his 1998 film LITTLE TONY which was selected for Un Certain Regard at Cannes and won for Annet Malherbe the Prize for “Outstanding Screen Performance” at the 1999 Filmfest Ludwigsberg/Stuttgart. The film was also nominated for European Film Awards in the Best Actress and Best Script categories. GRIMM (2003) was selected for San Sebastian and Riga, while WAITER (2006) won both public and critical acclaim at international festivals including Toronto. Van Warmerdam’s THE LAST DAYS OF EMMA BLANK (2009) won Best European Film at Venice, the Best Screenplay Award at the Netherlands Film Festival, and Best Film at the International Film Festival Albania. His 2013 thriller BORGMAN was nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes, screened in the Vanguard section at Toronto, and was the Dutch entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards.