{{Short description|Dutch film director, film producer, and artist (1922–2016)}} {{Infobox person | name = Louis van Gasteren | image = Louis van Gasteren (1987).jpg | caption = Louis van Gasteren (1987) | birth_date = {{birth date|1922|11|20|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Amsterdam]], Netherlands | death_date = {{death date and age|10 May 2016|20 November 1922}} | death_place = | years_active = 1951–2016 | occupation = Film director | spouse = Joke Meerman | awards = [[Golden Calf (award)|Golden Calf]] for ''[[Hans: Het Leven Voor De Dood]]'' (1983)<br>Golden Calf for ''[[The Price of Survival|De prijs van overleven]]'' (2003) | website = [http://www.louisvangasteren.nl/english/ www.louisvangasteren.nl] }}
'''Louis Alphonse van Gasteren''' (20 November 1922 – 10 May 2016) was a Dutch film director, film producer, and artist. He was born in [[Amsterdam]]. He is the son of actor Louis van Gasteren Sr. and singer Elise Menagé Challa, and the brother of actress Josephine van Gasteren.
==Biography== Van Gasteren trained as an [[electrician]]. He worked for the [[Polygoon (newsreel)|Dutch Polygoon]] newsreel company in [[Haarlem]], [[Netherlands]] in 1949. In 1951 he started his own film production company ''Spectrum Film''. He made his debut with ''Brown Gold'', a film about cocoa and chocolate, in 1952. In 1983 Van Gasteren won the Dutch Film Critics Award for best documentary as well as the [[Golden Calf (award)|Golden Calf]] for best picture for ''[[Hans: Het Leven Voor De Dood]]'' (''Hans, Life Before Death''). He received the Golden Calf a second time in 2003 for his documentary ''[[The Price of Survival]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.louisvangasteren.nl/biografie.html |title=Louis van Gasteren Official website Biografie |publisher=Louisvangasteren.nl |date=1922-11-20 |accessdate=2014-02-05}}</ref> Van Gasteren was a visiting professor in the United States at [[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]] and [[Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts]] at [[Harvard University]]. Van Gasteren lived in Amsterdam and was married to Joke Meerman. At the end of his life he was the oldest active filmmaker in the Netherlands.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eyefilm.nl/louis-van-gasteren-seismograaf-van-zijn-tijd |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114122259/http://eyefilm.nl/louis-van-gasteren-seismograaf-van-zijn-tijd |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-11-14 |title=EYE International - Louis Gasteren retrospective (Louis Gasteren - Seismometer of his time) |publisher=Eyefilm.nl |date=2012-11-30 |accessdate=2014-02-05 }}</ref>
== Walter Oettinger == During the Second World War Van Gasteren was convicted to four years for killing Walter Oettinger, a German Jew in hiding. After the war Van Gasteren was pardoned, but when he claimed a special pension for resistance fighters, this was denied on the grounds that the killing of Oettinger had not been an act of resistance.<ref>[http://www.mediareport.nl/en/persrecht/07022008/back-to-newsletter-february-2008-press-law-dutch-supreme-court-sets-new-standards/ Dutch Blogger Can Invoke Freedom of the Press], ''Media Report'', February 7th, 2008</ref>
==Filmography==
A partial list:<ref name="Filmography">{{cite web|url=http://www.louisvangasteren.nl/english/filmography.html|title=Filmography|publisher=Louis van Gasteren|accessdate=17 May 2014}}</ref>
* 1952 – ''Bruin goud'' (Brown Gold) – Documentary about cocoa and [[chocolate]], shot on location in Ghana and the Netherlands, directed by Theo van Haren Noman ([[:nl:Theo van Haren Noman|nl]]). 90 min * 1954 – ''Railplan 68'' (Rail Plan 68) – Documentary about the nightly replacement of tram rails on the [[Leidseplein]] in Amsterdam, 15 min * 1955 – ''Vliegende schotels geland'' (Flying saucers landed) – Surprising commercial for [[Albert Heyn]]'s Boffie Coffee, run as film, 4 min * 1960 – ''Stranding'' (Stranded) – Thriller, An international gang of bank-robbers escape to Ecuador on the ship, but after a shipwreck become stranded on the island of [[Terschelling]], 90 min * 1960 – ''Een nieuw dorp op nieuw land'' (A new village on new land) – Documentary about design, construction and first inhabitants of the village of [[Nagele]] in the newly reclaimed northeast, 25 min * 1961 – ''Alle vogels hebben nesten'' (All Birds Have Nests) – Documentary on the system-building as a result of the post-war housing shortage. 25 min. * 1962 – ''Het huis'' (The House) - Short film concerning a house which is demolished at the same time it is built, conceived by intercutting two time periods. No dialogue. 32 min. * 1963 – ''Mayday'' - Documentary about the successes and failures of rescues at sea. 20 min. * 1964 – ''Er is telefoon voor u'' (There's a Phone-call for You) - Documentary about the effects of the telephone in the Netherlands. 46 min. * 1964 – ''Jazz and Poetry'', 14 min. * 1965 – ''Out of My Skull'' – Early Dutch experimental film, made during a stay as visiting professor at [[Harvard University]]. 15 min. * 1968 – ''Report from Biafra'' - Documentary concerning the [[Biafran War]]. 50 min. * 1969 – ''[[Begrijpt U Nu Waarom Ik Huil?]]'' (''Now Do You Get It Why I Am Crying?'') – A therapeutic [[LSD]]-session with a former inmate of a [[German concentration camp]]. 62 min. * 1971 – ''Report from Europe'' - Film concerning the structure of the European community * 1973 – ''On ne sait pas'' – Portrait of a French country woman. 13 min * 1974 – ''Multinationals'' – Documentary concerning the role of multinational ventures * 1975 – ''Do You Get It no.2'' – Second of a series concerning perception and interpretation. Louis analyzes film footage of a policeman directing traffic and construction workers with shovels who try to make themselves immortal by their actions when they notice the presence of the camera. 13 min. * 1975 - ''Corbeddu'' – The first of three films about Sardinia. Can the bandit Corbeddu be regarded as the Robin Hood of Sardinia? 72 min * 1976 – ''Salude e libertade'' – History and culture of Sardinia. 52 min. * 1980 – ''Wirbula flow forms'' – Film concerning the water art of John Wilks. 10 min. * 1983 – ''[[Hans: Het Leven Voor De Dood]]'' (Hans, Life Before Death) – A documentary/feature on the life of the young composer Hans van Sweeden and those who knew him intimately. Won Golden Calf and Dutch Critics Award in 1983. 155 min. * 1989 – ''Een zaak van niveau'' (A Matter of Level) – 1000 years of [[Flood control in the Netherlands|Dutch water management]] and hydro civil engineering. Golden Camera Award Chicago, Sony Video Award, Film Prize from Amsterdam fund for art, Special Commendation [[Prix Europa|Prix Futura Berlin]]. 56 min. *1994 – ''Why Do Pigeons Home?'' – An experiment with mobile pigeon lofts, registered at the campus of the [[University of Utrecht]]. 30 min. * 1997 – ''Beyond Words'' - Interview with Indian master [[Meher Baba]], shot in 1967. 38 min. * 2002 – ''In een Japanese stroomversnelling'' – (In Japanese Rapids) a film concerning the role of Dutch engineers in Japan in the 19th century. 85 min. * 2003 – ''[[The Price of Survival]]'' (''De prijs van overleven'') – A follow-up of the 1969 film ''Do You Understand Now Why I Cry?'', about the children of the survivors of [[World War II]]. 56 min. * 2005 – ''Het verdriet van Roermond'' (The grief of Roermond) – Four-part series on the execution of fourteen civilians in [[Roermond]] on December 26, 1944, and its consequences, 4 x 50 min * 2006 – ''Het verdriet van Roermond'' (The grief of Roermond) – Short version of the four-part series, 90 min * 2012 – ''[[Nema Aviona za Zagreb]]'' (There is no plane for Zagreb) – Autobiographical drama/documentary against background of the 1960s, featuring interviews with [[Meher Baba]] and [[Timothy Leary]]. 82 min.
==Appearances== * 1969 – ''[[The Awakener (film)|The Awakener]]'' - Documentary film on [[Meher Baba]]
==Visual Arts==
* Car Sculpture in Tele Creation, 1964 * Matter Paintings, [[Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam]] (New League Images), 1966 * Multi Pels, [[Van Abbemuseum]], Eindhoven, 1967: targets of the Milwaukee Police Department * Matter paintings and multiples, Fodor Museum Amsterdam, 1968 * Sunny Implo (with Fred Wessels), Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 1970 * Roots of the city, [[Nieuwmarkt metro station]], opening in 1980 * Furnishing [[Neeltje Jans]] (with [[Wilhelm Holzbauer]], Frei Otto, Martin Manning), 1987 * Normal Amsterdam Level (Kees van der Veer), [[Stopera|City Hall / Music Theatre]], opening in 1988
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * ''Filming for the Future The Work of Louis van Gasteren'' by Patricia Pisters, Amsterdam University Press (2015)
==External links== {{commons category}} * {{in lang|en}} {{Official website|http://www.louisvangasteren.nl/english/ }} * {{IMDb name|id= 0309428 |name=Louis van Gasteren}}
{{Authority control (arts)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gasteren, Louis van}} [[Category:1922 births]] [[Category:2016 deaths]] [[Category:Dutch documentary filmmakers]] [[Category:Dutch artists]] [[Category:Artists from Amsterdam]] [[Category:Golden Calf winners]]