“What’s up Next?” is a series of articles and interviews meant to better showcase the trajectories of our Next Talents.
We are meeting the 2024-2025 generation in two key moments: at the start of their trajectory – focussing on finding out more about the artists and what they expect from the program, and at the end of their course, discussing the things they picked up on the way.
With this first interview we are introducing you to filmmaker Pien van Grinsven.
Pien van Grinsven makes films, often about things you can’t see like an absent father or hormones. She likes making invisible things for the everyday eye, appear on screen. Her graduation film ‘doei’ was screened in festivals worldwide and was selected to the Cinetree film library.
We asked Pien to tell us a bit more about herself. “I’m from Breda. Since I could write, I have been writing. I love it, but it is also a very lonely way to be. After many twists and turns, I discovered documentary film. It was the perfect mix of the real and the imagined at that time, for me. I got accepted into Doc Nomads, a documentary directing master, and left the Netherlands to make films. After graduating, I moved an unhealthy number of times and finally came back to the Netherlands, where I now work as an independent filmmaker.”
When talking about a project close to her heart, Pien reflects “The first film I made after graduating was released last year: Hormonal. It’s a dance-driven documentary about all the effects of hormonal birth control. It was a pain in the ass to get funded, because I needed to mix all the genres – dance, fiction and documentary – and had never done something like that before.
I had nothing to show for myself but this mouthful of what I thought the film should be. To get it made, even though I had the unwavering help of producer Nynke Bonnema of Korrel Film, felt impossible at times. That we finally managed to realise the film, and that my intuition was right in some important decisions in the film, still feels incredibly special to me. We have screened it through BNN/Vara and in various festivals, and it always has the effect I was hoping for: it makes people want to talk about themselves — their own experience and their own thoughts.”
Talking about other artists and works of art inspiring her, Pien confesses: “I am still awestruck by Theo Jansen’s ’Strandbeesten’, PVC creatures that move on the beach through sand, wind and engineering. I love the story he tells through the different species he brings into the world, and who replicate through his sharing their blueprint, so that Strandbeesten can appear anywhere. It is very simple, wonderful and very generous. I like generous works and generous artists.”
Based on her approach on art and creating, Pien has every chance to become a generous artist herself: “My work looks and feels very different from one film to the next, because I explore all the tools there are to tell a story. I think every story has its own way of being told, and every new work for me is the exploration of that specific way.”
In terms of what she would like to achieve by taking part in the Next Talent trajectory, Pien is very focussed: “I want to develop myself further as a writer, in a way coming back to a first love. And also discovering a new network after being away from the Netherlands for so long.”
Her ideal mentor would be American screenwriter and film director Charlie Kaufman: “I would love a mentoring session from Charlie Kaufman, to discuss my tentative script. His thoughts on writing, honesty, creating and vulnerability are already shaping the way I want to make things. Although the meeting itself, knowing myself and gauging Kaufman, would probably be awkward as fuck!”
One thing’s for sure: Pien is an incredibly exciting creator and we simply can’t wait to see what’s she going to do next!
