About The Taking
Film shapes our view of the landscape. Take the example of Monument Valley, on the border between Utah and Arizona. You cannot separate this cinematographic landscape from the movies in which it appears as a backdrop. Such a landscape is also a form of cultural appropriation: the stunning rock formations of Monument Valley were the setting for dozens of westerns that fed the myth of the heroic conquest of America. A new form of colonization, film turned the original inhabitants, the Navajo, into aliens. The Taking analyses this myth in compelling fashion. A visually overwhelming film, a must-see for every lover of film and landscape.
About Martin Koolhoven
Martin Koolhoven is one of the Netherlands’ most successful filmmakers, filming his own scenarios as well as those of others. Martin eats and drinks film; HP De Tijd once wrote about him that celluloid flows through his veins. He started with small arthouse films, but via blockbusters like Het Schnitzelparadijs and Oorlogswinter, he recently made his international debut with Brimstone, the first Dutch western sold to more than eighty countries.
