Rolf van Eijk

Rolf van Eijk, born December 28, 1983, is a Dutch screenwriter and film director. Rolf's films often explore the twists and turns of the human psyche, with a preference for highly complex and emotional personalities in a strained environment. The nuanced and sensitive way that Rolf portrays these extreme and complex characters enables the audience to gradually warm to them so that they eventually get under the viewers' skin. Rolf began writing stories after his aunt took him to the movie theater when he was nine. In that same period he discovered an attic full of VHS movie tapes at his uncle's home. Captured by the magical realm of cinema he secretly started to use his mother's Hi8 camcorder to shoot his stories. From that time on, he knew he wanted to become a filmmaker. In 2007 Rolf graduated from the University of the Arts Utrecht with his film 'Heaven Above Holland'. The film tells the true story of Mohammed B., the murderer of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh. Rolf's subtle self-penned psychoanalytical portrayal of Mohammed's two-year transformation from welfare worker to terrorist caused controversy due to its honest, human portrayal of van Gogh's murderer. The film wins the HKU Award for best graduating film, got several international festival selections and wins the Silver Mikeldi for best fiction in Bilbao, Spain. Rolf's fascination for people who cross socially accepted lines resulted in the sociological thriller 'Vast' (Inside). This film tells the story about an alienated teenage girl and her inability to overcome a childhood trauma. The film is set entirely in a youth detention center for girls. The film won the Golden Calf for Best Television Drama, the Prix Genève for best screenplay by a newcomer at the European Broadcasting Festival and was selected for Forum of Independents Karlovy Vary. In 2012 Rolf wrote, directed and produced the short 'Code One', a drama about senseless violence against ambulance personnel. The film was selected for over ten festivals worldwide and was used in a government program to educate teenagers about this new phenomenon in modern day society. In 2014 Rolf made his first feature: 'T.I.M. - The Incredible Machine'. In this magical adventure film a bullied boy travels to the end of the world to save his dying robot friend. Nearly 40 festivals worldwide selected the film (TIFF Toronto, Filmfest Munich, BIFAN Bucheon, SIFF Shanghai). It won Best Feature at Vittorio Veneto in Italy, Best Feature at IFF Karelian in Russia, Best Director and Best Cinematography at Other Worlds in the USA. In that year Rolf also directed an episode of the popular Dutch crime television series 'Van God Los' (The Godless) that was voted best television series in the world by Twitch Film. In 2015 Rolf teamed up with Roelof Jan Minneboo writing 'My Foolish Heart', a neo-noir jazz film about the last day of legendary jazz trumpeter Chet Baker. 'My Foolish Heart' is Rolf's theatrical feature debut. Rolf is also an international director of television commercials and social media ads, including films for BMW, Samsung and Startpage.