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The Hum of Holland

What does the Netherlands sound like? Do we still take the time to listen carefully to the sounds around us? Or is the soundscape so satiated that we prefer to seclude ourselves? What does all this sound do to us? Is there a place left in the Netherlands that is really quiet? And what does this sound like, real silence?

With these questions in mind, Stella van Voorst van Beest leads us through the Netherlands and makes us experience extraordinary and everyday sounds, reveals how sound is visible in the Dutch landscape and searches and finds silence in occasionally unexpected places.

This way, we get to know the Dutch soundscape and see how deeply sound literally and figuratively penetrates our daily life.

THE HUM OF HOLLAND ‘shows’ the Netherlands from an aural perspective, presenting a surprising and confronting portrait of a familiar landscape. A journey across a noisy country, examining its ambivalent relationship with silence.

Director:  Stella van Voorst van Beest

Writer:  Stella van Voorst van Beest

(Co-)producers:  Volya Films

Release Date: 2012

Partners: Dutch Cultural Media Fund, Netherlands Film Fund, CoBO, Buddhist Broadcasting Foundation

Length: 72 minutes

Genre: Documentary

Director of photography: Sander Snoep

Editor: Katarina Türler, Patrick Minks

Sound engineer: Piotr van Dijk

Sound design: Marc Lizier

Festivals: Netherlands Film Festival 2012

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