Karst van der Meulen

Biography

Karst van der Meulen directed and produced many successful children's films, including Peter en de vliegende autobus and Martijn en de magiër. In the Netherlands, he is a pioneer in the area of children's film. He started at the Film Academy in 1968 and also studied child psychology. During his internship at the English Children's Film Foundation, he worked together with Scandanavian directors such as Lasse Hallström and Olle Hellbom.

His film Circus op stelten was the first Dutch children's film in colour. During the film week in 1971 in Arnhem, he ran a project where kids could make their own 8mm films. In 1988 he received the Nipkowschijf, an award that is given out by a selection of Dutch critics, for his television series Mijn idee, in which he filmed stories that had been written by children. In 1989 he received a Cinekid Award for his life's work. His films have been shown as far away as Moscow, Tehran and Calcutta.