Earlier this month, the 90th ceremony of the Oscars took place in the U.S. After much backlash from the lack of diversity in the awards, this year’s ceremony seemed more open to movies from all sorts of backgrounds. The gala was full of the glamour and beautiful dresses we have grown accustomed to and everyone seemed to have a great night!

Photo taken by Robert Couse-Baker found on Flickr.com with license CC BY 2.0

Were the Dutch there?

The tiny polder country was certainly represented at this year’s event. There were two people nominated for two very different movies. Arjen Tuiten was nominated for the movie “Wonder” for grimme or make up and hairstyling. You can see more of Tuiten’s work in the following video.

Another Dutch nominee was Hoyte van Hoytema for cinematografie for the movie Dunkirk. Hoyte is a Swedish-Dutch cinematographer that has worked on some of the most amazing movies such as Her, Interstellar, Spectre and Dunkirk. The interview below (in English) covers some of his artistic process.

Past Dutch-Oscar Winners

Although the Netherlands did not win an Oscar this year, there have been several nominees and winners throughout the history of the Academy Awards. The first nomination in Best Foreign Film was in 1959 for Dorp aan de rivier directed by Fons Fons Rademakers. The very famous Dutch movie Turks Fruit was also nominated in 1973. You can watch the full film in Dutch with English subtitles in the video below.

https://youtu.be/scB0Dvw3gFo

The very first Oscar for Best Foreign Film for the Netherlands was for De Aanslag in 1986. The movie was based on Mulisch’s famous novel about World War II, and you can read more about this movie in this previous post. Antonia, directed by Marleen Gorris won an Oscar in 1995, and three years later, Karakter won.

And what about Belgium?

Belgium has also been well represented in the Oscars, although some of the films are in French. The first Dutch-language nomination was for Daens in 1992. This movie exposes the working conditions in a lot of factories through the eyes of Daens, a Catholic priest from Belgium. It is based on real events in the life of Adolf Daens. You can see a fragment via the following link.

https://youtu.be/eWZl_9FLrDE

As you can see, the Dutch language and culture has been well represented at the Academy awards, and, while many great movies have surely been left out, the representation stays strong!

Are you a fan of Dutch or Belgian cinema? What is your favorite Dutch-language film?