Jos Stelling

Biography

Jos Stelling is a film director, scriptwriter and producer. He discovered his love for film at a Catholic boarding school where an enthusiastic priest showed classic films every Sunday afternoon. He taught himself to make films with a simple 8mm camera. In 1969 he started a project that would take five years to complete, the film adaptation of the miracle play Mariken van Nieumeghen. With the help of 800 amateur actors and extras, he finished shooting the film in 1974. After intensive editing, which revised the three-hour-long raw version to 80 minutes, he was left with a rough Middle Ages drama that took film critics and festival directors by surprise. The film was selected in 1975 for the official competition at Cannes (something never before achieved by a Dutch director).

After making his debut, Stelling made eleven more films in which fantasy, dreams and the thin line between madness and common sense played a major role. His films were shown at many international festivals and won numerous prizes. In 1981, Jos Stelling initiated the establishment of the Netherlands Film Days (currently the Netherlands Film Festival). He owns two cinemas in Utrecht: Springhaver and the Louis Hartlooper Complex.