Theo van Gogh film director

Theo van Gogh (23 July 1957–2 November 2004)
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Theo van Gogh (23 July 1957–2 November 2004)

Theo van Gogh (July 23, 1957–November 2, 2004) was a controversial Dutch film director, television producer, publicist and actor.

Contents

Life

Van Gogh was born in The Hague. His great-grandfather was art-dealer Theo van Gogh, brother of the famous Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. After dropping out of law school he became a stage manager. He debuted as a director with the movie Luger (1981). He received a Gouden Kalf ("Golden Calf", the Dutch equivalent of the Oscar) for Blind Date (1996) and In het belang van de staat ("In the Interest of the State", 1997). As an actor he appeared in the production De noorderlingen ("The Northerners", 1992). After that, he worked for television and wrote provocative columns for Metro and other newspapers.

His last book (2003) was Allah weet het beter ("Allah Knows Best") in which he - in his typical cynical, mocking tone - presented his views on Islam. He was a well-known critic of Islam, especially after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He supported the nomination of liberal, Somalian-born female politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali for Dutch parliament. As of 2004, she is a Member of Parliament for the Liberal Party (VVD).

Together with Hirsi Ali, van Gogh created the 10-minute movie Submission. The film is about violence against women in Islamic societies, and focuses especially on female circumcision. It shows four abused women, naked under see-through dresses with Qur'an texts in Arabic, unfavourable to women, painted on their bodies. After the movie was released, both van Gogh and Hirsi Ali received death threats. Van Gogh did not take these very seriously and refused any protection.

Van Gogh was a member of the Dutch republican society Republikeins Genootschap (anti-monarchic).

Works

Publications

Van Gogh contributed to various newspapers and magazines, often leaving these jobs after a quarrel.

He published the following books:

  • Engel ("Angel", 1990)
  • Er gebeurt nooit iets ("Nothing Ever Happens", 1993)
  • Sla ik mijn vrouw wel hard genoeg? ("Do I Beat My Wife Hard Enough?", 1996)
  • Allah weet het beter ("Allah Knows Best", 2003)

Filmography

  • Luger (1982)
  • Een dagje naar het strand ("A Day at the Beach", 1984)
  • Charley (1986)
  • Terug naar Oegstgeest ("Back to Oegstgeest", 1987)
  • Loos ("Wild", 1989)
  • Vals licht ("False Light", 1993)
  • Ilse verandert de geschiedenis ("Ilse Changes History", 1993)
  • 06 (1994)
  • Reunie ("Reunion", 1994)
  • Eva (1994)
  • Een galerij: De wanhoop van de sirene ("A Gallery: The Despair of the Siren", 1994)
  • De Eenzame Oorlog Van Koos Tak ("Koos Tak's Lonely War", 1995)
  • Blind Date (1996)
  • Hoe ik mijn moeder vermoordde ("How I Killed My Mother", 1996)
  • In het belang van de staat ("In the Interest of the State", 1997)
  • Au ("Ouch", 1997)
  • De Pijnbank ("The Torture Bench", 1998)
  • Baby Blue (2001)
  • De nacht van Aalbers ("Aalbers's Night", 2001)
  • Najib en Julia (2002)
  • Interview (2003)
  • Zien ("Seeing", 2004)
  • Submission (2004)
  • Cool (2004)
  • 0605 (planned for release in 2004)
  • Medea (planned for release in 2005)
  • (Bad (unfinished; production was planned for 2005))

Death

The crime scene with the dead body of Van Gogh covered by a blanket.
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The crime scene with the dead body of Van Gogh covered by a blanket.

Van Gogh was murdered in the early morning of Tuesday November 2, 2004, in Amsterdam in front of the Amsterdam East borough office (stadsdeelkantoor) on the corner of the Linnaeusstraat and Tweede Oosterparkstraat streets. He was shot with seven bullets and died on the spot. His throat was slit, and he was then stabbed in the chest. Two knives were left inplanted in his torso, one pinning a 5 page note to his body. The note threatened Western governments, Jews and Hirsi Ali who went into hiding. The alleged killer Mohammed Bouyeri, a 26-year-old man of Dutch and Moroccan nationalities, was apprehended by the police after being shot in the leg. Bouyeri is a Muslim extremist with alleged terrorist ties. In the Dutch media the suspect is called Mohammed B., since it is common practice in The Netherlands to abbreviate the surnames of crime suspects in order to protect their privacy. He is also charged with attempted murder of a police officer and bystander, illegal possession of a firearm, and conspiring to murder others, including Hirsi Ali.

Until his death Van Gogh was working on a movie (0605) about the murder of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn. The film is set for premiere on December 15, 2004 on the internet through a Dutch ISP, who also financed the movie.

Aftermath

The day after the murder Dutch police arrested eight suspected Islamic radicals. Six detainees are of Moroccan origin, one is Algerian and the other has dual Spanish-Moroccan nationality.

On the body of Theo van Gogh and on the suspect's body notes where found. These notes called for Jihad against several Dutch politicians and contained references to the fundamentalist ideology of Takfir wal-Hijra.

External links




de:Theo van Gogh eo:Theo VAN GOGH fr:Théodore van Gogh (réalisateur) he:תיאו ון גוך ms:Theo_van_Gogh_(pengarah_filem) nl:Theo van Gogh pl:Theo van Gogh pt:Theo van Gogh (realizador)

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