Renée Scheltema
Renée Scheltema (born 1951, Bergen, North Holland) is a Dutch documentary filmmaker, living in Cape Town, South Africa. She has been making documentaries for 25 years.
After her Bachelors at Law, and Doctorandus degree in Criminology in 1974, she received her Masters at the School of Journalism at the University of California in Berkeley. Her main subjects were TV journalism and photojournalism.
In 1978, she proceeded to work for Dutch television as a Director for the NOS International Affairs Programme. She was also Assistant Director for two Dutch feature movies. Thereafter she became a freelance documentary filmmaker, working mainly for Dutch TV stations, like the NOS, NCRV, AVRO, Human TV, TROS, Veronica, IKON, VPRO, and the BOS, Buddhist Broadcasting Station.
Many documentaries were co-productions with TV and the Dutch Non-governmental organization SNV, focusing on sustainable development and the protection of the environment. She has been director, producer, cameraperson and editor.
Her art series "Canvas Extreme" consists of seven 30-minute portraits of contemporary cutting-edge artists in South Africa, and was sold to TV stations in France, Spain, Mexico, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
She filmed for a Dutch Public Broadcasting station documentaries including Happy in Zimbabwe?, Portrait of a Zen couple, and Een Gezelig Gesprek, Portrait of Nicolaas Pierson.
Scheltema's 2009 feature documentary Something Unknown Is Doing We Don't Know What[1] investigates the science behind psychic experiences, featuring top scientists in the US, such as Prof. Charles Tart, Dr. Dean Radin, Dr. Rupert Sheldrake, and Hal Puthoff.[2] This award-winning film has been selected at many film festivals, and has been distributed worldwide.
Scheltema is working on an environmental documentary.
Film festivals
Something Unknown Is Doing We Don't Know What
- Arizona International Film Festival. April 2009: Special Jury Award for feature documentary
- Santa Fe Film Festival
- Globians Doc Fest Berlin, August 2009[3]
- The Feel Good Film Festival, Los Angeles
- Spirit Quest Film Festival, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.[4]
- Silk City Film Festival. http://www.silkcityflickfest.com/
- Durban International Film Festival, South Africa. 2010[5]
- Cosmic Cine Festival. 2012. Germany, http://www.cosmic-cine.com/
Hush, a portrait of artist Tracy Payne
- Asolo Art Filmfestival, 2001[6]
- International Festival for Woman Films, Paris, 2000
Other films
- Donostia (Spain): “Seven Days in Burma” a co-production with TV and UNDP and UNESCO
- Monte Carlo: “The Death Penalty”, a coproduction with TV and Amnesty International
- WSSD filmfestival Johannesburg, 2002: “The Bus”, with WWF-Table Mountain Fund and the National Botanical Gardens in South Africa
- European TV Festival of Rel.Progr.Norway: "A Zen couple in the Western Cape"
Photography
Scheltema is also a professional still photographer and has been working for magazines and newspapers in the Netherlands, the USA, and South Africa. She was a member of Gamma Liaison in New York (now called Getty Images).
Exhibition: "More than Clogs and Tulips", A unique collection of photographic prints of Theo Van Gogh. 2008. Presented by the Dutch Consulate in Cape Town.
Degrees
- Bachelor at Law. University of Leiden. Netherlands
- Drs. Criminology. University of Leiden. Netherlands
- M.A. School of Journalism. University of California in Berkeley
References
- ↑ Something Unknown Is Doing We Don't Know What at the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ http://www.somethingunknown.com/scientists.php scientists interviewed for "Something Unknown..."
- ↑ http://www.globians.com/ Globians Doc Fest Berlin
- ↑ http://www.spiritquestfilmfest.com/ Spirit Quest Film Festival
- ↑ http://dbnweb2.ukzn.ac.za/cca/Durban_International_Film_Festival.htm Durban International Film Festival schedule
- ↑ http://www.asolofilmfestival.it/ Asolo Art Filmfestival