The long read · Dutch cinema
The Resilience of Dutch Cinema and Its Global Stars
The Netherlands has given cinema bold directors, unforgettable actors and some of the finest cameramen in Hollywood. Here is the story of Dutch film, from the documentaries of Joris Ivens to Paul Verhoeven, and where to watch in Amsterdam.
Updated October 2026
From Joris Ivens to Verhoeven
Dutch cinema first won fame with documentaries. Joris Ivens’s poetic Rain (1929) caught Amsterdam in a summer shower, and Bert Haanstra’s Glass, a playful film about glassblowers, won the Oscar for best documentary short. In the 1970s Paul Verhoeven’s Turkish Delight and Soldier of Orange, both with Rutger Hauer, were huge hits at home and abroad.
Three Dutch films have won the Oscar for best foreign-language film: Fons Rademakers’s The Assault, Marleen Gorris’s Antonia’s Line, the first winner directed by a woman, and Mike van Diem’s Character. Verhoeven went to Hollywood to make RoboCop and Basic Instinct, then came home for Black Book (2006).
Must-watch films
To understand Dutch cinema, start with these.
- Turkish Delight (1973): Paul Verhoeven’s wild Amsterdam love story, with Rutger Hauer.
- Soldier of Orange (1977): Verhoeven’s epic of students caught up in the Second World War.
- Antonia’s Line (1995): Marleen Gorris’s warm saga of a village matriarch, winner of the Oscar.
- Character (1997): Mike van Diem’s dark Rotterdam drama of a son and his father, winner of the Oscar.
- Black Book (2006): Verhoeven’s wartime thriller, with Carice van Houten.
The stars
Dutch talent shines on both sides of the camera.
- Rutger Hauer (1944–2019): the star of Turkish Delight and the unforgettable replicant of Blade Runner.
- Carice van Houten: the star of Black Book, and Melisandre in Game of Thrones.
- Famke Janssen: from GoldenEye to the X-Men films.
- Robby Müller and Hoyte van Hoytema: cinematographers of Paris, Texas and Oppenheimer, for which Van Hoytema won the Oscar.
- Jan de Bont and Anton Corbijn: the cameraman who directed Speed, and the photographer who directed Control.
Where to watch in Amsterdam
In Amsterdam, the Eye Filmmuseum, in its gleaming white building across the IJ in Noord, keeps the national film collection and shows classics every day. Tuschinski, opened in 1921, is one of the most beautiful cinemas in the world, and every November IDFA, the documentary festival, fills the city’s screens.
Our advice: take the free ferry to Eye, then see a film at Tuschinski in the evening.
Eye Filmmuseum Koninklijk Theater Tuschinski
Hidden on the silver screen: international productions filmed in Amsterdam
Amsterdam’s canals and bridges have starred in thrillers, heists and love stories.
- Diamonds Are Forever (1971): James Bond in Amsterdam, with a body found by the Magere Brug, the Skinny Bridge over the Amstel.
- Ocean’s Twelve (2004): the heist gang takes to the canals.
- The Fault in Our Stars (2014): the young lovers’ trip to Amsterdam, by the canals.
- The Hitman’s Bodyguard (2017): a high-speed boat chase through the canals.
The Dutch in Hollywood
Few countries have given Hollywood so many key people behind the camera. Paul Verhoeven directed RoboCop, Total Recall and Basic Instinct, Jan de Bont shot Die Hard before directing Speed, and Hoyte van Hoytema has filmed Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, Dunkirk and Oppenheimer.
Questions and answers
Which Dutch films have won the Oscar?
The Assault (1986), Antonia’s Line (1995) and Character (1997) won the Oscar for best foreign-language film.
Where is the Dutch film archive?
At the Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam-Noord, across the IJ from Centraal Station.
Join the conversation
Which Dutch film or star do you love most? Share your favourite scenes and the films we should add.
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Sources: the Eye Filmmuseum, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, IDFA and the International Film Festival Rotterdam, checked on 6 November 2026. The trailers are from Film Movement’s and Sony Pictures Classics’ official channels.