Jef van der Heijden

Biography

Jef van der Heijden was a director and writer from the Dutch province of North Brabant. He was originally trained to be a photographer. After he learned the craft of directing from Bert Haanstra, he made his debut in 1961 with De laatste passagier, a film for young people. In the beginning of the 1960s he established his own production company, Pan Film, for which he would produce and direct many commissioned films. The company also produced one feature film, Fietsen naar de maan (in which Dutch actor Jeroen Krabbé made his film debut).

In 1967, Van der Heijden's feature film career came to an end. For his film Ongewijde aarde, Van der Heyden used actual images from a funeral for a priest from the village of Hilvarenbeek. He had to pay 70,000 guilders in damages. The film was initially banned by the censorship board, but after being re-evaluated it was approved for screening. Disillusioned, Van der Heijden moved to Ireland and thereafter made only commissioned films. In 1997, Huub van der Put made the documentary Jef van der Heyden, Fietser naar de maan.