Henk Alsem

Biography

Henk Alsem was a filmmaker and film producer. He started his career at Willy Mullens' company Haghe Film.

At a young age, he left for America to work there as a lab assistant for Fox News.

Back in the Netherlands, he founded his own production company in 1924: the Hispano Film Fabriek. For this company, he shot films in e.g. the Dutch East Indies and Egypt. In 1926, Alsem was commissioned to make an informational film for the Ministry of the Navy. For this film, he travelled around the whole world on the cruiser Sumatra.

When his journey was over, Alsem decided to stay in Batavia, where he was involved with the founding of the Dutch East Indies branch of Hispano. Alsem continued working in southeast Asia until the end of the 1920s. The subjects he shot included the riots in China and the burial of the Japanese emperor.

In 1932, Alsem again left for the Dutch East Indies, this time to shoot the film Rawana for the Zendingsbureau Oegstgeest . A year later he started working as a cameraman for Cinetone Studio's, where he remained until 1936.

After the Second World War, Alsem was in charge of the Legerfilmdienst . He shot a few more films for Hispano, including the colour film Het gouden kroningsfestijn (1948), about the inauguration of Queen Juliana.