The Netherlands Film Festival 2011, a yearly event that allows the public and the industry to come together and concentrate on Dutch cinema, has just recently come to a close.

I haven’t seen the figures for 2011 yet but in 2010, 382 films were screened, 154,000 people attended and 3 million people viewed the online supply of films, reports and interviews.

The main event consists of films (long, short, documentary and TV films) by Dutch filmakers from the previous 12 months competing for the grand prizes, also known as Golden Calf awards (Gouden Kalveren).

However, what was even more interesting than the nominations, awards and winners was this year’s advertising campaign.  Instead of doing a simple advertisement, the NFF organisers decided to get creative and came up with this:

If you didn’t catch it from the video itself, everyone in the scene is an actor/actress except for the guy who is grabbed off the street, pushed through the crowd and handed the megaphone.  He was just a general member of the public who happened to be walking down the street.

The tag line that appears at the end of the clip says “voor je het weet zit je er middenin,” which roughly translates to “before you know it you’re right in the middle of it.”  There are two further versions available on the internet.  The scenario remains roughly the same but features a different person from the public.  You can view them below and here are some bits from the clips in Dutch and English to help you out.

verborgen camera – hidden camera (seen at the bottom left of the screen when the clip starts)

goed dat je zo snel gekomen bent, alles staat paraat – good that you came so quickly, everything is ready (what the police officer says when he grabs the person off the street)

dat is de leider van de AT, hij geeft je alle “in’s en/and out’s” – that is the leader from the AT, he’ll give you all the in’s and out’s (what the police agent says as he directs the person over to the officer with the megaphone)

AT = arrestatieteam – a special Dutch police unit who arrest dangerous criminals/people that have just committed a serious crime

You can also watch a video about the making of the advertisements.  It is all in Dutch but you can see some of the different actors/actresses getting ready and also one of the failed attempts.