The Jan Vrijman Fund
IDFA established the Jan Vrijman Fund in 1998 to generate more attention for the voices of filmmakers in the developing world, to stimulate local film cultures and to turn the creative documentary into a truly global film art.

History
For the last nine years, the Jan Vrijman Fund has been granting contributions for script development, production and postproduction of documentaries in developing countries.

In addition to individual film projects, the Fund also supports projects that promote local documentary production and distribution in general, such as workshops and documentary film festivals.

In fact, the Fund has collaborated with several festivals to get the films that it has subsidised screened.

Jan Vrijman (1925-1997)

The fund bears the name of the inspiration behind and former co-director of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, Jan Vrijman.

Born in Amsterdam, on 12 February, 1925, Jan Hulsebos joined the Dutch Resistance during the second world war, taking the nom de guerre Vrijman ("Freeman").

He continually tried, as he himself put it, to "expose informal reality". This he did successively as a journalist, director and columnist.

Having directed and produced almost 50 films, in 1986 Jan Vrijman decided to give up making them. From that moment on, he would devote himself entirely to his daily column in Amsterdam's Het Parool newspaper and to the recently-founded IDFA, which he considered a wonderful and important event.

He was Co-Director of the IDFA between 1989 and 1991, and remained a member of its Executive until his death. Plans for the establishment of a fund for filmmakers from developing countries had already been initiated during his lifetime.

He was a great supporter of them, not least because it is in those nations that censorship is often at its strongest and so independent filmmakers deserve as much support as possible. The means to produce films are usually in the hands of the establishment, making access to them very difficult for independent documentary makers.

Jan gave his last interview during IDFA 1996. Before a sellout audience, Vrijman the filmmaker, the journalist and the inspiration talked about his 10 favourite films, his work and his own highly-eventful life. We miss him. The Fund will proudly honour his name.

Ally Derks (Director, IDFA)


Coordinator: Isabel Arrate Fernandez
Assistant: Mélanie de Vocht