When I was younger, I always sat glued to the telly. I was impressed by the many possibilities that came with film and the stories that were made.

Someone that always told me stories, is my grandmother. Storytelling I inherited from her. She used to make up so many stories, and she did it so well, that she started to believe them herself. She knew an answer to every question I came up with, the crazier the better. I was astonished by all these amazing stories and nowadays I can still remember and tell some of those tales.

A good movie stands out with a good story.

Alice in Wonderland is for me, one of the most creative movies ever made. The colours, perspectives, techniques and scale of it all.  I love it! The film is enchanting in its own witty way. If you look at the details they put in the small things, like the golf scene where the red queen uses a flamingo as a golf club and a hedgehog as the ball. Well.. it’s almost hard to imagine that you can come up with something like that. A brilliant thought comes by ever so often for some I figured. The colours in Alice in Wonderland fit with every single scene. The cheerful, happy scenes have subtle friendly colours and when the scene evolves into for example a fighting scene, the colours turn into dark grey and red shades. The colours in this movie determine the atmosphere completely.

I love Documentaries. Nature, culture and personal stories. The shots of a documentary are mostly very organic and natural which keep me fascinated for what comes next. This natural process inspires me. Making a good clip using a fusion of music, voice-over and gentle shots, is quite something isn’t it? You keep watching, you stay fascinated. How will it end? What will happen and why? Everything in only five minutes. It is possible, you don’t always need a documentary of an hour to visualise a subject or theme. Sometimes five simple minutes are enough to create a story that keeps you busy every single second.

It’s even better, when a documentary with a minimum of one hour can keep your attention till the very end. I had this very strong feeling with ‘Banana Pancakes and the Children of Sticky Rice’ with Daan Veldhuizen as director. I couldn’t stop thinking about this ninety-three minute during documentary from 2015. When you combine distant lands, culture and music, I’m hooked. And that has been the case with this piece of art. Daan Veldhuizen knows how to keep a balance throughout all the themes he is discussing in this film.