Olivia Sophie Van Leeuwen — Partner & Head of Documentary, Halal
Olivia talks to TheNextGag about why directors should try their hand at documentaries, what she looks for into a project, why she dreams to work with Netflix and the rules to tell a compelling story.
Olivia Sophie Van Leeuwen is a Partner & Head of Documentary at Halal in the Netherlands.
Halal is an established Amsterdam based film production company & photography agency with a big creative team, connected to people and networks all across the world. Halal has four partners and is divided into four departments: photography, commercials, film and documentary.
Olivia is known to be a passionate and ambitious documentary film producer, always striving to create films that surprise, inspire, engage and inform. Her main focus is to expand Halal Docs’ international portfolio and effectively attract and cultivate top talent to help create the greatest quality documentary films with high artistic value.
With over 10 years of experience in film production and with a mediastudies master degree at the University of Amsterdam and the New York University Tisch School on her back, Olivia has been working on documentaries, short films, TV series, art films and feature films for the past decade.
At Halal Docs, Olivia works closely with directors to transform ideas into reality. Concentrating on a select number of documentary filmmakers with a distinctive personal signature, the focus is on content and artistic value. Olivia is a strong advocate for being involved in every aspect and part of a project and makes this her number one priority in order to achieve the highest potential of any idea.
Ultimately, Olivia drives on her own intuition and gut instinct, trying to make successful and artistic decisions for her films, connecting filmmakers to the industry’s most influential movers and shakers and audiences in the most innovative and meaningful way.
Inspired to create smart and enticing documentary films, in which she can loose herself — both as a producer as well as a human being — that is Olivia Sophie van Leeuwen, in a nutshell.
THENEXTGAG: WHAT IS THE STORY BEHIND THE NAME OF THE COMPANY ?
OLIVIA SOPHIE VAN LEEUWEN: So, it is actually a funny story that started a long time ago when Gijs Kerbosch was making short films. He did a clip with this young group of Moroccan singers. And they said “you guys are so cool. You guys are 100% halal”. And that was like a huge compliment. And he decided to use the name 100% Halal, that later turned into Halal.
And we realize it’s a somewhat strange name. People often think of shawarma or something when they see it. But, on the other hand, it’s also funny because it makes people wonder who we are and what we do.
We are actually very proud of the name Halal. If it confuses people then they should be confused. And if anything, it’s at least a great icebreaker because people always ask about it (and remember it).
TNG: SO WHAT IS IT THAT YOU DO THEN ?
OSVL: Our company consists of four departments: the commercials department, photography department, fiction films department and the documentary department.
I am the Head of Documentary. So, I produce documentary films and navigate all the productions in this department.
TNG: IS IT ODD TO HAVE A PRODUCTION COMPANY THAT DOES SO MANY DOCUMENTARIES ?
OSVL: Maybe it is not so common, but I think it is one of our biggest strengths. The fact that we shine at various intersections in the artistic field enable us to truly utilise the different skillsets across those fields. We have a lot of great talent that grow and excell by operating in both the commercial and fiction/documentary sphere. It’s a really strong combination, and a great marriage between artistic expression and commercial sharpness.
It’s always beneficial for the artists to have the flexibility to explore new fields and industries. Ultimately, I think it also results in more innovative work, as a more diverse skillset is challenging us to always push boundaries.
Currently we see a big interest from clients who want a documentary style campaign. Or branded content long-form films. This is the super interesting areas in which we truly get to show our strengths across these various fields.
TNG: WHERE DO YOU FIND YOUR TALENT ? DO YOU FIND IT IN AMSTERDAM OR DO YOU GO ON VIMEO TO GET THE PEOPLE THAT YOU WORK WITH ?
OSVL: I go to film festivals, events and film/art schools. I love to scout for fresh talent, sometimes people who haven’t even graduated yet. But a lot of the time talent also comes to us. So, we get a lot of requests from people who want to work with us. In the Netherlands I think we are quite well-known by young creatives, which is really nice. When it comes to actually picking the talent, I personally tend to go with my gut feeling — people who give you energy, seem promising and are a good fit with our creative vision and company culture.
We want to bring visual storytelling to the next level with every film we produce, working with inspiring writers and directors who can make entertaining films, driven by crazy and honest characters, that will visually break rules and push boundaries, and bring different perspective to the lives we live.
TNG: WHAT KIND OF DOCUMENTARIES DO YOU WORK ON ?
OSVL: We work on a very wide range of documentaries. For instance, our documentary “Genderbende” is a story about five young people who neither feel male or female, but rather position themselves somewhere in between. It had a very future facing and positive outlook, and was very well received (most recently it picked up the price at Netherlands Film Festival for best debut film and will have it’s international premiere at Dok Leipzig this November).
But we have also just made a documentary that investigates the Syria-conflict from a new perspective. That’s a much tougher topic. We also created a documentary following three young prisoners forced to reinvent themselves under the preventive custody of the state. Another one is about the almost vanished medium of the handwritten love letter. So as you can see, our projects touch on many different topics and vary in their approach. I guess what they almost always have in common is a positive outlook and message, as opposed to many documentaries that leave the viewer behind with quite a heavy introduction to a topic or story. We want to bring visual storytelling to the next level with every film we produce, working with inspiring writers and directors who can make entertaining films, driven by crazy and honest characters, that will visually break rules and push boundaries, and bring different perspective to the lives we live.
TNG: I ALWAYS WONDER HOW DO YOU EVALUATE SUCCESS WHEN YOU SHOOT A DOCUMENTARY ? IS IT TO SHOW IT AT A FESTIVAL ? IS IT TO SELL IT TO NETFLIX ?
OSVL: It really differs per projects. Most of our projects are made in collaboration with a broadcaster with the aim to be shown on Dutch television. And there is of course prestige in making it at international festivals — that’s always beneficial in order to raise the profile of the filmmakers. So we often try to premiere at big international film festivals, such as IDFA.
But, of course, we really want to have a documentary on Netflix. I think that we have two projects now that have the potential to be on Netflix. The reason that I want Netflix is because they have a really big audience. We strive to find international audiences. The more people who we can share our stories with, the better. And I think that’s why Netflix is of course seen as a super platform and thus indicator of success.
TNG: I AM NOT VERY FAMILIAR WITH DOCUMENTARIES. I AM MORE INTO ADS. I JUST WANTED TO KNOW IF THIS YEAR YOU SAW A DOCUMENTARY WAS VERY NICE AND YOU WISHED MORE PEOPLE HAD SEEN IT ?
OSVL: It’s hard to think of a specific one. I love documentaries that are relevant but also very strong in form like “Searching for Sugar Man”, “A Family Affair”, “Love True”, “Rats”, “The Act of Killing”, “Those Who Feel the Fire Burning”, “Sergio Herman Fucking Perfect”, “Stories We Tell”, “Cartel Land”, “I am Not Your Negro”, “My Beautiful Broken Brain”.
So many that I can mention. Maybe it is more interesting to tell you what I think makes a good documentary overall. Most documentaries tend to be quite depressing. They touch on important themes but, if you go to a documentary film festival and you watch eight films a day, you will be down by all things that go on. I see it as a sort of test for filmmakers to tell positive stories that celebrate individuals and celebrate life. So the topics can be serious, or even heavy, but the overall message can still be a positive one.
TNG: DO YOU HAVE AN EXAMPLE ?
OSVL: Yes. So, for example, I get a lot of requests from people who want to make documentaries about gay issues. There are a lot of documentaries about that. And most of the stories are very sad; about people that are left on the outskirts of society and are no longer welcome in their communities, countries or even families. We made a documentary called “Over The Rainbow”. It’s about an older lady who comes out of the closet at a later stage in her life. And she just celebrates life. She is so energetic and full of life. No regrets. Overall, a very positive story. It went all over the world. To me, that’s an example of how we want to share uplifting stories that inspire through positive messages.
TNG: WHAT ARE YOUR UPCOMING PROJECTS ?
OSVL: We have quite a few films coming out towards the end of this year. For instance “Independent Boy”, an experiment in which a very young filmmaker directs the life of his best friend for a month. Another one is “Jolene”, a film about a young woman who earns her money in a strip club, calls the football club hooligans her family and made some inconvenient choices, but she has a plan. It scratches the surface of the judgements and prejudices we unconsciously bring with us in our daily lives. It is actually directed by one of our photographers that does a lot of commercial work, it’s her first documentary. We have loads of projects in research and production phases, so more about that another time.
TNG: I REALIZE THAT A LOT OF YOUR DOCUMENTARIES ARE CENTERED ON SOMEONE WHO IS GOING THROUGH SOMETHING OR HAS AN EXCEPTIONAL LIFE OR DOES SOMETHING GREAT. IS IT POSSIBLE A DIRECTOR WHO IS SO GREAT THAT HE CAN TURN EVEN A BORING STORY INTO A REALLY NICE DOCUMENTARY ?
OSVL: That’s a great question. Well, if you make a documentary about a famous someone, people are naturally attracted to it because they’re already curious about the topic. But I think that if we were going to do a documentary about your life, we would at least craft it really well and make it visually stunning. Everybody would be completely in love with you at the end of it. Or everyone would hate you, depending on the way that we would edit the film. I think we can turn a boring story into a nice documentatry, but I prefer to turn amazing stories into great documentaries.
TNG: HOW YOU WOULD DO THIS ?
OSVL: Make a film about you? Well first, we would dive into your life and your past. And try to understand everything about you — uncover your weak spots, deep dive into your life and try to reveal what drives you, what you’re pursuing and why, your dreams and your longings. Then we need to explore the common themes and underlying red threads to turn it into a story. Develop a beautiful form and style and then work with a lot of talented people on it to make it become a masterpiece. Sounds good?
Olivia Sophie Van Leeuwen
Partner & Head of Documentary
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