Synopsis

At the end of 2003 the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum closed its main building, to renovate it and turn it - in the words of its Director Ronald de Leeuw - into ‘the most beautiful art museum imaginable’. Spanish architects Cruz and Ortiz conceived a grand design which was to open in 2009: a modernized building embodying a groundbreaking museological concept. Film maker Hoogendijk followed the first four years of what is the Netherlands’ biggest and most ambitious cultural operation. Metal claws crush walls of the internationally renowned treasure-trove of Dutch art. A new museum was to rise from the ashes of the old museum. But from the very start the project was plagued by opposition from the local authority, the Dutch Cycling Union and building inspectors, to name but a few. All the drilling and dismantling should eventually give rise to something beautiful, but demolition turns out to be easier than building. The restoration job continually gets delayed, and the tortuously slow decision-making process has led to the departure of both project manager and the chief curator. Again and again the architects’ designs bit the dust, and they were forced to compromise at every turn. As Spanish architect Antonio Ortiz put it: ‘This is not democracy, this is a perversion of democracy’. The years wear on, and the frustrations mount. The ingenious use of stylistic feature film elements, perfect camera work and subtle editing techniques make The New Rijksmuseum a compelling visual opera of great beauty.

Director

• 

  Oeke Hoogendijk
  

  Oeke Hoogendijk was born in 1961. She started her career as a theatre director. Since 1997 she has been directing documentaries for television.
  In her recent documentary film The New Rijksmuseum, she follows the renovation of the old Rijksmuseum building in Amsterdam. She is now working on The New Rijksmuseum part two.
  
  The New Rijksmuseum (2009)
  The Holocaust Experience (2002)
  Het Archief Voor De Toekomst (1999)
  Een Gelukkige Tijd (1999)

Credits

• Director  Oeke Hoogendijk
• Producer  Pieter van Huystee
• Cinematographer  Sander Snoep, Gregor Meerman, Adri Schrover, Paul Cohen
• Editor  Gys Zevenbergen
• Music  Eelco van de Meeberg, Christiaan van Hemert
• Sound  Mark Wessner

Production Company & Distributor

• Production Company & Distributor  Pieter van Huijstee Film
• Address  Noordermarkt 37 - 39, 1015 NA Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Tel  31 20 421 0606
• Email  curien@pvhfilm.nl