{{Short description|Dutch film director (1916–1997)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2014}} {{Infobox person | name = Bert Haanstra | image = Bert Haanstra.jpg | caption = Haanstra in 1989 | birth_name = Albert Haanstra | birth_date = {{birth date|1916|5|31|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Holten]], Netherlands | death_date = {{death date and age|1997|10|23|1916|5|31|df=y}} | death_place = [[Hilversum]], Netherlands | othername = | occupation = [[Photographer]], [[Camera operator|cameraman]], [[film director]] | years_active = 1948–1988 (film director) | spouse = Nita Wijtmans | partner = | children = Rimko and Jurre | parents = | website = {{URL|www.berthaanstra.nl}} }}
'''Albert Haanstra''' ({{IPA|nl|ˈɑlbərd bɛrt ˈɦaːnstraː}}; 31 May 1916 – 23 October 1997) was a Dutch [[film director|director]] of [[film]]s and [[documentary film|documentaries]]. His documentary ''[[Glass (1958 film)|Glass]]'' (1958) won the [[Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject)|Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject]] in 1959. His feature film ''[[Fanfare (film)|Fanfare]]'' (1958) was the most visited Dutch film at the time, and has since only been surpassed by ''[[Turkish Delight (1973 film)|Turkish Delight]]'' (1973).
== Early life == Albert Haanstra was born on 31 May 1916 in Espelo, a small village near [[Holten]], in the [[Netherlands]]. His father was Folkert Haanstra, a schoolteacher, and his mother Jansje Schuiveling. Haanstra grew up in the village of [[Goor]]. Because he lived during the poverty of the 1920s, Haanstra grew up with the mindset that to get the most out of life, he would need to work hard and live below his means to survive.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Bert Haanstra - English|url=http://www.berthaanstra.nl/english.html|access-date=2021-05-03|website=www.berthaanstra.nl}}</ref> Haanstra's father retired early as a schoolteacher and started his lifelong dream of becoming a painter. Haanstra himself, after realizing teaching didn't interest him, became a painter himself and started experimenting with photography.<ref name="BWvN">{{in lang|nl}} Hans Schoots, "[http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/bwn1880-2000/lemmata/bwn6/haanstra Haanstra, Albert (1916-1997)]", ''Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland'', 2013. Retrieved on 3 December 2014.</ref>
Through his fascination, Haanstra became friends with a local cinema owner who eventually would let him see movies for free from the projection room, where Haanstra's desire to dabble in cinema would grow. By collecting scrap equipment that had been thrown away, Haanstra made a homemade projector, and after doing odd jobs around his village to earn money, he bought films from a local store to play them on his projector.<ref name=":0" /> He was later accepted into [[Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]] but would subsequently turn it down as he felt that the long years of study would be nothing in comparison to real life experience. During his later employment as a press photographer, Haanstra experimented in [[staged photography]], where he would create his first film, Catfish.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.berthaanstra.nl/english.html|title=Bert Haanstra: Filmmaker, Magician, Wizard|website=Bert Haanstra.nl|access-date=May 1, 2017}}</ref>
== Career == [[File:Uitreiking Oscar aan Bert Haanstra door Amerikaanse ambassadeur Ph. Young, Bestanddeelnr 911-3434.jpg|thumb|Haanstra receives his Academy Award for ''[[Glass (1958 film)|Glass]]'' from Ambassador [[Philip Young (ambassador)|Philip Young]] in 1959.]] [[File:Nieuwe film van Bert Haanstra De Zaak MP opgenomen in Cinetone studio te Am…, Bestanddeelnr 911-2599.jpg|thumb|Haanstra gives instructions on the film set of ''De Zaak M.P.'' in 1960.]]
Haanstra became a professional [[Documentary film of the Netherlands|Dutch documentary film]] maker in 1947. He won international acclaim with his short documentary ''[[Mirror of Holland|Spiegel van Holland (Mirror of Holland)]]'', for which he received the Grand Prix du court métrage at the [[Cannes Film Festival]] of 1951. During the fifties he made six films for Shell, among others ''The Rival World'' (1955) on insects spreading deadly diseases and how to fight them. In 1958 his documentary ''[[Glass (1958 film)|Glass]]'', a filming improvisation made in a glass factory, won an Academy Award for [[Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject)|Best Documentary Short Subject]].<ref name="Oscars1960">{{Cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1960 |title=The 32nd Academy Awards (1960) Nominees and Winners |accessdate=21 August 2011|work=oscars.org| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20110706094204/http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/32nd-winners.html| archivedate= 6 July 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref name="NY Times">{{cite web |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/151213/Glas/details |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102104434/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/151213/Glas/details |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 November 2012 |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2012 |title=New York Times: Glass |accessdate=26 May 2008}}</ref> Due to the increasing trend of the poetic mode documentaries following the events of [[World War II]], many of Haanstra's films contained poetic elements that "encourage viewers to see the mystery, wonder, or beauty of aspects of the historical world<ref>{{Cite book|last=Nichols|first=Bill|title=Introduction to Documentary|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=2017|pages=157}}</ref>" by stressing the film's "mood, tone, and effect much more than displays of factual information or acts of rhetorical persuasion<ref>{{Cite book|last=Nichols|first=Bill|title=Introduction to Documentary|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=2017|pages=116}}</ref>."
He directed several fiction films. ''[[Fanfare (film)|Fanfare]]'', a comedy situated in a small Dutch village, is still the Netherlands' second most popular film ever (measured at the box office), only surpassed by Paul Verhoevens ''Turkish Delight''. Abroad however, ''Fanfare'' was hardly noticed, but it was entered into the [[1959 Cannes Film Festival]]<ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/3445/year/1959.html |title=Festival de Cannes: Fanfare |accessdate=14 February 2009 |work=festival-cannes.com |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120915023846/http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/3445/year/1959.html |archivedate=15 September 2012 |df=dmy }}</ref> and the [[1st Moscow International Film Festival]].<ref name="Moscow1959">{{cite web|url=http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1959 |title=1st Moscow International Film Festival (1959) |accessdate=27 October 2012 |work=MIFF |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116210640/http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1959 |archivedate=16 January 2013 |df=dmy }}</ref>
After ''[[Fanfare (film)|Fanfare]]'', he continued his artistry in directing another short film called, ''Zoo''. It was released on 14 December, 1962. A film which compared the behavior of animals and humans through his always appreciated humoristic fashion. As always, Haanstra continued to experiment with his cinematic techniques. In ''Zoo'' he experimented with hidden camera filming to capture he true nature of both man and beast. In 1963, ''Zoo'' was nominated for the BAFTA Film Award in Holland for Best Short Film.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056722/awards|title=Zoo Awards|website=IMDB|access-date=May 1, 2017}}</ref>
In several shorts and in long documentaries like ''Alleman / The Human Dutch'' and ''Stem van het water / The Voice of the Water'' Haansta reflected on The Netherlands and its inhabitants. All these films made him one of the most popular filmmakers in the history of Dutch cinema. The documentary ''[[The Human Dutch|Alleman]]'' was seen in the cinema by 20 percent of the total Dutch population. In the seventies and eighties Haanstra addressed a new subject. He made several films about animals. In the long documentary ''[[Ape and Super-Ape]]'' (''Bij de Beesten af'') (1973), for which he collaborated with [[Frans de Waal]] and [[Jane Goodall]], among others, he compared the behavior of animals and human beings. In total Haanstra received close to a hundred awards.
Haanstra was Officer in the [[Order of Orange-Nassau]].
== Death == Haanstra died on 23 October 1997 at the age of 81 in a nursing home in [[Hilversum]] in the Netherlands. He died of [[Alzheimer's disease]].<ref name="BWvN"/> After his death, the Oeuvre Award, a prestigious Dutch prize for film, (Haanstra had won one himself), was renamed the Bert Haanstra Oeuvre Award.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.berthaanstra.nl/english.html|title=Bert Haanstra - English|website=www.berthaanstra.nl}}</ref>
==Filmography== {{div col|colwidth=30em}} *''[[De Muiderkring Herleeft]]'' (1948) *''[[Mirror of Holland]]'' (1950) *''Nederlandse Beeldhouwkunst tijdens de late Middeleeuwen'' (1951) *''[[Panta Rhei (film)|Panta Rhei]]'' (1952) *''Dijkbouw'' (1952) *''Ontstaan en Vergaan'' (1954) *''De Opsporing van Aardolie'' (1954) *''De Verkenningsboring'' (1954) *''The Rival World'' (1955) *''En de zee was niet meer'' (1955) *''God Shiva'' (1955) *''Rembrandt, schilder van de mens'' (1957) *''Over glas gesproken'' (1958) *''[[Glass (1958 film)|Glass]]'' (1958) *''[[Fanfare (film)|Fanfare]]'' (1958) *''The Manneken Pis Case'' (1960) *''Delta Phase I'' (1962) *''Zoo'' (1962) *''Lewis Mumford on the City, Part 2: The City - Cars or People?'' (1963) *''[[The Human Dutch]]'' (1963) *''The Voice of the Water'' (1966) *''Evoluon'' (1967) *''Return Ticket to Madrid'' (1967) *''[[Ape and Super-Ape]]'' (1972) *''[[When the Poppies Bloom Again]]'' (1975) *''Nationale Parken... Noodzaak'' (1978) *''{{Ill|Mr. Slotter's Jubilee|nl|Een pak slaag}}'' (1979) *''Nederland'' (1983) *''Vroeger kon je lachen'' (1983) *''[[The Family of Chimps]]'' (1984) *''Kinderen van Ghana'' (1988) {{div col end}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == * Jo Daems, Teder testament, de films van Bert Haanstra (1996) * Hans Schoots, Bert Haanstra - Filmer van Nederland (2009)
==External links== * {{Commonscatinline}} *{{in lang|nl}} [http://www.berthaanstra.nl Bert Haanstra] (official website) *{{imdb name|id=0351842|name=Bert Haanstra}}
{{Bert Haanstra}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haanstra, Bert}} [[Category:1916 births]] [[Category:1997 deaths]] [[Category:Dutch film directors]] [[Category:Dutch comedy film directors]] [[Category:Dutch film producers]] [[Category:Dutch documentary filmmakers]] [[Category:Golden Calf winners]] [[Category:People from Holten]] [[Category:Deaths from dementia in the Netherlands]] [[Category:Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in the Netherlands]]