Biography
Award winning filmmaker Klaartje Quirijns, 1967, (she was the first one to win the prestigious documentary 50.000 euro stipend from the Prince Bernard Cultural Fund, she was nominated for the European Academy Award, other prizes include the Prix Italia 2012, Jury prize Festival International du Film des Droits de l’Homme, Paris, 2008, Special mention of the jury of IDFA 2007, Special mention of the jury of Movies that Matter 2007, Best documentary at Film Noir Festival, Courmayeur, 2007) started out her career as a TV journalist, producing reports for Dutch television’s most important investigative program.
In 2005 she directed The Brooklyn Connection, a study of gun-running in the US which explored the thin line between being a freedom fighter and a terrorist and in 2007 The Dictator Hunter, which focused on the struggle to get dictators prosecuted.
Quirijns received particular praise in 2012 for her film Peace vs Justice, a critical look at The Criminal Court in the Hague, which examined the moral dilemmas that arise in the pursuit of Western ideals of justice. Her documentary, Anton Corbijn, Inside Out, was a portrait of the renowned Dutch photographer and filmmaker and the complex forces that drive him.
Inspired by Philip Larkin’s poem “This be the Verse”, her film Your Mum and Dad, premiered at the Rome International Film Festival. It will have its UK premiere at Curzon Soho 26th of April and will be broadcasted by BBC Storyville. The film is an exploration of the powerful dynamics of family relationships and the way they shape our lives.
Her films premiered at Tribeca Film Festival, IDFA, Toronto International Film Festival, Berlinale and International Film Festival Rotterdam.
In 2013, Quirijns began to direct fiction films. Her first work was Speelman, a story of a marriage, which premiered to great acclaim at the Dutch Film Festival in the Netherlands. The short version View On A Marriage was acquired by Shorts International.
