Ed Van der Elsken: Amsterdam

To accompany the exhibition “Van der Elsken. Camera in Love,” Jeu de Paume is organising three evenings of films by this artist who was a major figure in Dutch photography and documentary cinema. Featuring five films made between 1964 and 1990, the screenings will be put on with guests such as film journalists Joyce Roodnat, philosopher Frédéric Worms and curator Frits Gierstberg from the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam.

Ed Van der Elsken started making films in the late 1950s, tending towards a vein close to cinema-vérité, albeit with rather different themes. His subjects were always linked, in one way or another, to his own life.

Van der Elsken photographed and filmed his subjects in situations that were often theatrical. His approach was like that of a director, engaging in dialogue with the persons photographed. He loved to provoke his subjects, to affirm the personality he detected in them.

The city of Amsterdam stars in the first screening, which features Waterloo Square Is Disappearing and A Photographer Films Amsterdam. They are presented by film journalist Joyce Roodnat.

Waterloo Square Is Disappearing (Netherlands, 1967, 12 min, Dutch, French subtitles) presents the last day of the old flea market on Amsterdam’s Waterlooplein, which was to disappear in order to make way for the construction of a tunnel. Van der Elsken filmed the stallholders, the punters and the highly diverse articles on sale, from posters of Che Guevara to household items. His commentary on the images is free and uninhibited.

A Photographer Films Amsterdam (Netherlands, 1982, 58 min, Dutch, French subtitles) shows a colourful procession of walkers. In summer 1982, Van der Elsken crossed Amsterdam on foot, by car and in a plane, always seeking to document his hometown and its inhabitants. With a camera fixed to the roll bar of his buggy, he filmed the city centre in slow motion and then speeded up the images when editing.

Screening in the auditorium on Tuesday 13 June, from 7 to 9 pm.
Admission: 3 euros or free with that day’s exhibition ticket.
Information: infoauditorium@jeudepaume.org