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Willem Aerts has been teaching first-year visual arts students two days a week for about six years now. It’s an introduction, he says. In ten weeks, students learn the basics of writing, shooting and finishing a film.
“Most of them already have some experience of it because of the possibilities offered by each smartphone. Yet they all learn something from it and carry it with them through the rest of their education. Many students become visual arts teachers and can pass on their enthusiasm to others.
Aerts is delighted to be able to share his experience with a new generation. Nevertheless, he was absent for a year on two occasions. “Making a film is not always easy to combine with my work at the academy.”
Around the world
During these intervening years, Aerts traveled the world to portray people living with HIV. This project takes place almost simultaneously with the making of a film about the choreographer Hans van Manen. A friend and confidant of the filmmaker, whom he was allowed to follow in his work and life for five years.
The film was released on the eve of his ninetieth birthday Hans van Manen – Just dancing the steps aired on Dutch television. And now the film has been selected for New York’s oldest and most prestigious global dance film festival, the Dance on Camera Film Festival.
Ambassador
According to Aerts, only 10% of films are selected for this festival. His film is one of them. “Incredibly special”, confides the director a few days before his departure for the most imaginative city in the United States.
Aerts feels like an ambassador for the work of Hans van Manen. “Hans’ work has traveled the world, only New York has performed very little of his choreography. The fact that the film is now showing in this city means that his work is still seen and embraced.
character movie
Hans van Manen – Just dancing the steps is a character film about the international dance icon, now almost 91 years old. As stylistically as Van Manen composed his choreographies, Aerts portrayed his main character so poetically. In barely an hour, the viewer gets to know Van Manen well.
“When I met him thirteen years ago, I had no idea of his caliber,” says Aerts. “I realized how beautiful, symmetrical and clear his work is. In that style, I wanted to make a visual character movie. A lot has already been done on Hans, but not yet. [tekst gaat verder onder de foto]
