Cyrus Frisch

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Cyrus Frisch is arguably the most notorious filmmaker currently working in the Netherlands. Frisch was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 1969.

His debut feature film "Forgive me", meant as a critique of reality-TV culture, premiered at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam (2001) and set his name as a controversial filmmaker. Frisch himself plays the lead in that film. He pretends to be a devilish director without any ethical bounderies in search for the ultimate, exciting (fiction) film. Using a group of (real) social outcasts and mentally handicapped as actors.

Variety wrote about "Forgive me": "irritating, revolting, yet oddly memorable". Filmmaker Magazine, the American magazine for independent film, described Frisch as "the wild man of Dutch film" (issue: fall 2006). According to Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad (27-01-2001), the feared Theo van Gogh was like a baby compared to "enfant terrible" Frisch. And the International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam compared Frisch with Lars von Trier in the ways he succeeds to get his audiences "angry as hell".

Frisch is known to have made the first fictional feature film shot with a mobile phone: Why Didn't Anybody Tell Me It Would Become This Bad in Afghanistan, that premiered at major film festivals: the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2007, Tribeca Film Festival 2007, the San Francisco International Film Festival 2007, Pesaro 2007, and several others. According to Dutch newspaper Trouw, Frisch pinpoints the insanity of western society nowadays with this film as precise as Polanski did in the 60s with Repulsion (31-05-2007). The Guardian writes Frisch is a celebrity in Holland, known for tackling difficult subjects (4 February2007). After graduating from Dutch Film Academy in 1992 he was nominated for the Grolsch Award, one of the most prestigious film awards in the Netherlands.

Frisch also became known as a playwright. His play "Ik Ben Bang" (“I'm Afraid”), according to the Dutch Theater Festival, became the most discussed play of the season (2000 / 2001). Gharb, "A short, sharp, blast of a play" (The Stage / 15-10-2004) was performed in different languages in Holland, France, Austria and England in 2004. Recently Dutch newspapers in the Netherlands reported Frisch is working on a film with Georgina Verbaan and Rutger Hauer. The film titled Oogverblindend, Dazzled in English, is said to be Hauer's first film in his homecountry in 28 years.

[edit] Filmography

Blackwater Fever (feature film) (2008)
Ellen ten Damme Stay (music video)
Why Didn't Anybody Tell Me It Would Become This Bad in Afghanistan / Waarom heeft niemand mij verteld dat het zo erg zou worden in Afghanistan (feature film) (2007)
Forgive me (feature film) (2001)
Geen titel (medium-length documentary film) (1996)
I shall honour your live (short documentary film) (1996)
Live Experimenteren (medium-length documentary film) (1995)
Selfpity / Zelfbeklag (experimental film) (1993)
Welcome 2 (short film) (1992)
Screentest (short film) (1992)
Welcome 1 (short film) (1991)
De Kut van Maria (short film) (1990)