Festival Anatolië

In 2014, GRRR participated in an extensive strategy project together with Filmhuis Den Haag. In that same year, we launched their new corporate identity and website. GRRR remained involved in the projects of Filmhuis Den Haag as their partner for brand strategy, branding and digital technology.

Last October, GRRR drafted the design for the successful festival Anatolia. Filmhuis Den Haag was looking for a style that justifies the diversity of Anatolia and one that reinforces the themes of the festival and the films. Hence, we included icons like the saz guitar, women, Turkish tea and the main characters from the classical movie The Girl with the Red Scarf.

Besides that, we created a graph presented throughout all mediums. The aim was to present everything on a neutral basis, which matches the Anatolia vision of inclusion perfectly.

We received a thank you card after the success of the festival. And, we admit, that makes us pretty happy.

Filmhuis Den Haag is a platform for contemporary film art and classic films, and is more than just a movie theater. The aim is to bring people and cultures together and to challenge visitors to empathize with others. Film is the most effective and accessible form of art to achieve this.

The city plays an important role in choosing the programme of Filmhuis Den Haag. Contemporary themes and strongly represented groups in The Hague are reflected in the programme.

Festival Anatolia is a good example of this reflection. The Turkish and Kurdish community both approached Filmhuis Den Haag demanding to pay attention to their own film culture. Filmhuis Den Haag had the courage, despite the tensions in the region, to accept these requests.

The team of Filmhuis Den Haag visited the Schilderswijk and Transvaal neighborhood to ask what films are must sees according to both communities. Film classics from Anatolia were taken as a starting point. Because that is – despite the differences between the communities – what they definitely share. Whether you are Kurd or Turkish: everyone loves the same film classics.

Anatolia is the old name for a large part of Turkey. In Filmhuis Den Haag, eleven films were shown for three days. With Q&A’s before or after the film, talk shows, an open-air film, a silent film with live music, a program with short films in Studio A, ambient music and food and drinks in the style of Anatolië.

The programme was developed in collaboration with Elif Rongen, EYE Film Museum. Visitors enjoyed a trip through Turkey before Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and the Republic in 1923 arrived. Until then, the Ottoman Empire had been a major ruler worldwide for centuries. Images from 100 years ago, carefully preserved in various film archives in Europe, were being revitalized. But more importantly, different groups of the Hague’s society came together to enjoy a shared background and a shared passion: the Anatolian (film) culture!

Geke Roelink: “Many visitors visited Filmhuis Den Haag for the first time and told unsolicited that they were moved or inspired by the films, conversations, meetings or atmosphere. We exactly wanted to cause that motion. People from all over The Hague were sitting next to each other at ease. Of course, there were emotional debates too, but that was no surprise. Afterwards, everyone pleasantly enjoyed a cup of Turkish tea or beer at the film café.

Despite the tensions in the region, it therefore seems that we have succeeded to celebrate the culture of Anatolia and to bring groups of people together, which is not the case in their daily lives. That would not have been possible without your contribution.”