Noud Heerkens
Noud Heerkens’ website is a web archive with personal reflections. It is designed by Studio Harris Blondman and launched January 27th 2026.
An archive under construction. Projects will be added or supplemented throughout 2026.
About
Film set An Invitation to DANCE photo Katarina Jazbec
Noud Heerkens is an independent filmmaker, visual artist and occasionally producer, coach and curator.
From 1978 onwards, Heerkens investigates the limits of the medium film and the crossovers with other disciplines. His works belong to different genres: the experimental film, dance film, fiction, documentary, media art.
Heerkens poses that one of his themes is the solitude of postmodern man. This does not imply an unambiguous attitude of cinematic approach. Rather he defines the world from multiple perspectives, roles and diverse experiences.
In fact, Heerkens himself as a maker is a carrier for a series of approaches and experiences. The whole of its work reflects his view on the world.
Noud Heerkens: ‘At a young age, I started observing the facial expressions and body language of people around me. I hoped it would reveal what people truly thought, so I could prepare for what was to come. The fascination with the body and what a body can tell, stuck with me. Not only through my dance films, but also through my experimental work and fiction films.’
In 1993, Heerkens started the Picos de Europa foundation. One of Picos’ most eye-catching projects were Cineboards; video screens in public spaces on which film and video makers could show their work.
Heerkens’ films and installations were shown on various national and international platforms. Most of his films are part of the collection of the Eye Filmmuseum. Heerkens received international recognition, among others, for Re-action in A (1979), Man in Motion (1985), Four Seasons (1995), Privat Story (2000), Last Conversation (2009) and NOL KING RUTER (2012).
Additional links
Eye Film museum
Eye Film museum filmpoule
International Film Festival Rotterdam
Nederlands Film Festival
Caradt Centre of Applied Art
Caradt Centre of Applied Art Research
An Invitation to DANCE
© 2024-now. All rights reserved.
Website by Studio Harris Blondman
Contact
Noud Heerkens
Nieuwe Binnenweg 149K
3014GK Rotterdam
The Netherlands
noudheerkens@gmail.com
+31 06 22451577
An Invitation to DANCE
Intro
2018
Installation
An Invitation to DANCE, an installation that seamlessly combines dance, cinema and technology.
A collaboration between filmmaker Noud Heerkens (Tilburg, Netherlands) and choreographer Loïc Perela (Castres, France).
Birth
Info
1993
Film
A young businessman flees the hospital after the harrowing birth of his child. Balancing between two eras, he wanders the city. An angel guides him through the night.
The lead role in BIRTH is played by Georgian filmmaker and actor Tato Kotetishvili (Tbilisi, Georgia, 1959 - Rotterdam 1997).
Nederlands Filmfestival 1993
Off Screen De Unie 1995
DOP Benito Strangio | First AD Ineke Smits | Director Noud Heerkens
Four Seasons
info
1995
Film
A personal impression of the four seasons with a starring role for Heerkens’ four-years-old daugter.
In a choreography of layered images, the four seasons come and go, while we witness the conversation between the filmmaker and his daughter.
Film composition Spring: timeline and layers
Four Seasons was composed on paper, like a piece of music. Then created shot by shot, layer by layer entirely in the camera.
The film material had to be rewound several times, precisely to the right frame in the 16mm Bolex.
Film composition Summer
Each season consisted of layers of nature, giving the episode its rhythm and daily activities, like eating, jumping, and dancing, giving it melody.
After the recording was completed, Heerkens sat down with his daughter at the editing table and recorded her commentary. Her voice is a key element in the soundscape.
Last Conversation
Info
2009
Last Conversation
The film portrays the universal theme of lost love. With the car journey, the telephone call and the 25 camera angles, Last Conversation describes a 21st century view of reality that is determined by a multitude of perspectives and constantly shifting ways of thinking.
Last Conversation is shot in one take with 25 camera’s attached to the exterior of a classic Jaguar.
A film by Noud Heerkens starring Johanna ter Steege. Produced by Holland Harbour, Nadadja Kemper and Rob Vermeulen
Photo’s by Sarah Mei Herman and Kim Boske
Last Conversation
“If only all film experiments worked as well as “Last Conversation.” Best known for video and installation work, Noud Heerkens makes his feature helming debut by mounting 25 cameras on a Jaguar XJS and shooting one of Europe’s finest actresses, Johanna ter Steege, in a one-sided, one-take phone conversation with the married lover who’s just jilted her. The impressive, engrossing results are attributable to Heerkens’ meticulous conception, a near-perfect script and ter Steege’s stunningly nuanced performance. Media attention will be vital to draw local auds, while limited Euro arthouse play may further the discussion.”
Jay Weissberg. Variety, Jan 29, 2009
Limited Blue
Info
Presentations
Filmproduction
1984
Film
Heerkens explores in Limited Blue how abstract film can intertwine with a narrative approach.
Two genres in cinema, fiction and the structural film, question each other visual vocabulary, while the sound with fragments of thoughts continues.
Abstract images slowly interfere with figurative images of a man waiting in his room.
EYE Filmmuseum Eye on Art 2015
A Taste of Red, Yellow and Blue
How does red smell, what is the sound of yellow
words and the taste of blue?
With the screening of: Red Mill (Esther Urlus,
2013, 5’), Yellow (Rosella Biscotti, 2010, 22’) and
Limited Blue (Noud Heerkens, 1984, 9’).
Sketch for editing the abstract and figurative shots.
Man in Motion
Info
Filmproduction
Presentation
Artefacts
1995
Film
An ordinary man with an ordinary job. At the end of the day, he waits in vain for his beloved. His hopeful longing turns to sadness and anger. For a moment, the man is completely lost.
Choreographer and dancer Ton Lutgerink depicts the man’s struggle in a lighthearted and humorous way.
The film was shot in the former departure hall of the Holland America Line, designed in 1949 by architects Van den Broek and Bakema.
The enormous glass wall offers a view of the Maas River and the Rotterdam skyline.
Shooting plan
Picture Negative Rapport
Pale Gold
Info
Presentations
1988
Cross over
Pale Gold is a multidisciplanary performance on location staged during the manifestation Rotterdam ‘88, De Stad als Podium.
For this location-based project, choreographer Piet Rogie and filmmaker Noud Heerkens work together with actors from the Belgium Wisseltheater. Director of Photography is Rogier Stoggers, known for the Oscar winning film Karakter.
Film and dance performance consists of five parts, each inspired by a specific mood. Film footage forms a dip or triptych and is projected high above the dance floor.
The scenes are imbued with melancholy and longing, featuring young, but no longer unspoiled, faces.
Re-action in A
Info
Presentations
1979
Film
A man alone in a deserted factory hall. Heerkens’ reaction on a broken love.
The film is shot frame by frame with a Bolex h 16 camera, using live animation and time lapse technics.
The man’s loneliness is visualized with various camera techniques: pixilation combined with a long exposure time per frame up to 3 seconds. It required perseverance from the actor, Bastiaan van Wingerden.
At times, the man seems to blur and dissolve into space.
The edgy editing, enhanced by Terry Riley’s synthesizer music, the lack of narrative structure, and the highly contrasting film material: these are all stylistic hallmarks of Dutch experimental film in the latter half of the 1970s and also characterize Re-action in A as a formal film study.
EXPERIMENTA 2005 – 3rd Festival of Experimental Cinema in India
SECTION OPTICAL RHYTHM
Curated by Shai Heredia | 180mins
Noud Heerkens, ‘Re-Action in A’ Netherlands; 1976; 16mm; b/w; magnetic-sound; 6min
A man is alone in a factory. His loneliness is visualised with fascinating moving camera techniques and a
mesmerising soundtrack.
DRIESSEN, HENDRIK; PAUL DE MOL & NELLY VOORHUIS.
Het experiment in de Nederlandse film.
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, 1985. Stiff illustrated wrappers, 24 x 22 cm., (36) pp., b/w illustrations, artist’s cinematographies. Edition of 1700 copies, very scarce already. On Babeth, Matthijs Blonk, Mari Boeyen, Marinus Boezem, Ben van Bussche, Michel Cardena, Jan Dibbets, Ger van Elk, Sander Francken, Andreas Hamelberg, Noud Heerkens, Nan Hoover, Gredrieke Jochems, Jan Ketelaars, Johan van der Keuken, Christine Koenigs, Claudia Kölgen, Wierd Kramer, Eric de Kuyper, Wim van der Linden, Edward Luyken, Marijn Maris, Barbara Meter, Paul de Mol, Ruud Monster, Jan van Munster, Paul de Nooijer, Henri Plaat, Mattijn Seip, Daniel Singelenberg, Frans van de Staak, Bart Vegter, Willem Veldhoven, Jacques Verbeek & Karin Wiertz, Dick Verdult, Alex Vermeulen and Frans Zwartjes.
Skyview
Intro
1978
Film
Heerkens’ first film shot from his room in a canal house in Delft during his study architecture. Time passes slowly. A fighter jet flies over.
What about perversity in Winnipeg
Overview
1995
Film
What about perversity in Winnipeg is a short experimental film about the city of Winnipeg.
It features statements from its residents artist Wanda Koops and filmmaker Guy Maddin, among others.
The film was supported by the Winnipeg Film Group and shot using only one can 120 meter Kodak film.
What about perversity in Winnipeg was made during BOUNCE, an art exchange project between Dutch and Canadian artists of Rotterdam, Victoria and Winnipeg.
As part of the exchange, Heerkens curated and presented a Rotterdam film program including the dance film Man in Motion.
