Hans, Life Before Death

1983· 155 min★ 7.0· Documentary

Filmmaker Louis van Gasteren reconstructs the life of Amsterdam poet, composer and actor Hans van Sweeden, who took his own life at the age of twenty-four in 1963. Through interviews with friends, relatives and contemporaries, alongside archival material, the film becomes both an intimate portrait of Van Sweeden and a broader account of a young generation searching for freedom, identity and new ways of living in Amsterdam during the 1950s and 1960s.

Cast: Jan Cremer, Willem Nijholt, Hans van Sweeden

Director: Louis van Gasteren