René van Nie

Biography

René van Nie was a Dutch filmmaker and producer. He started his career in the 1950s as an assistant to Max de Haas. After that he worked for Cinecentrum and, as an independent filmmaker, he made documentaries and commissioned films for the government and the business world. Van Nie also worked as a cameraman for a number of foreign television stations.

In the 1970s, Van Nie produced a number of feature films for his companies Burgwalfilms and Dessa Films. After his first film - a comedy entitled Vijf van de vierdaagse uit 1974 - he released four serious films with socially relevant themes, such as Kind van de zon (1970). In this film, Van Nie explores issues in psychiatric health care, and the blurry boundaries between what normal is and what we call mentally ill.

After he had produced his last film, Sabine (1981), he continued to make commissioned films and commercials. At the end of the 1980s, Van Nie left the Netherlands and settled in Aruba, where he was active as a writer/journalist.