"Paul is easy in making contact
with people and puts everyone at ease. A good comrade on the set, beautiful images even when conditions are hard."
Margriet Jansen, doc maker
Paul Enkelaar is an Amsterdam-based documentary filmmaker, cameraman
and stills photographer.
He has over 25 years of experience working in countries around the world.
Paul combines independent work with projects commissioned by broadcasting companies, a variety of clients,
and many of whom work in the non-governmental sector like:
VPRO, NPS, KRO, NCRV, Human, Ikon, RTL, AT5, Free Press Unlimited, Wereldomroep, Radio Netherlands
Training Center, Stichting Vluchteling, International Rescue Committee, Vluchtelingenwerk, Eye Filmmuseum,
Artsen voor Kinderen, Milieudefensie, Greenpeace, Plan International, Cult Epics, UMC, Amsterdam MC,
EO, Socutera, BBC, Arte, CNN, ZDF, Jeugdjournaal, and the Mongolian Broadcast Cooperation.
Prizes:
*Grand Prix, II Arctic Festival non-fiction Films, Sint Petersburg
*Best Foreign Film, 22d International Festival of Ethnological Films, Belgrado
*Grand Prix, InternationalFilmfest Bansko, Bulgaria
"Over time, he has developed an exceptionally flexible and responsive approach that takes full advantage of natural light and local resources.
Enkelaar’s keen interest in people and their stories means he is able to engage with individuals from all sorts of cultures and backgrounds. The result is truly unique footage – the quality of which belies the challenging circumstances under which it is sometimes made",
Else Lenselink, communication specialist.
"Now that's great television."
Maria Goos, theater/film/television writer
"In addition to being a good cameraman, Paul is a pleasant person. An important trait for a filmmaker: when making documentaries, establishing a relationship of trust and confidence with people is essential."
Edwin Trommelen, doc maker
"Paul Enkelaar is great for working in multicultural environment, ethics and creative
approach. He always kept networking with me and my course mates.
Like a true teacher he follows my growth and successes. Till now, within our alumni group
discussions we mention Paul Enkelaar as a great professional and advisor who is always ready to render his help to us".
Armen Sargsyan, Editor in Chief of Armenian Public TV and RNTC Alumnus.
"Paul has made many items with film makers, guests, curators and programmers of Eye Filmmuseum. His knowledge of the film world and his friendly and professional way of working puts everybody at ease. This has resulted in interesting, surprising and intimate interesting interviews for the website and social media of Eye."
Anna Abrahams, programmer at
Eye Filmmuseum
"Beautiful video! Rest in peace, Cecilia."
Dalai Lama
PAUL ENKELAAR
SET PHOTO'S
FILMOGRAPHY
Paul studied International Communication at the University of Amsterdam. After his studies, he focused on camera work for television and NGO's and taught non-western journalists film, television and photography at RNTC (Radio Netherlands Training Centre) in Hilversum.
After the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) masterclass led by Jan Vrijman, he made his debut as a documentary maker with the short documentary 'Graan Voor Vis' (VPRO), the short documentary 'Afrika in Beeld (IKON) and 'Pixels van Pijn' (HUMAN).
Paul made documentaries at home and abroad, among others for a main dutch documentary broadcaster NCRV-Dokument. Together with co-director Edwin Trommelen, he filmed 'Back To The Camp’ about a dutch girl returning to a Russian prisoners camp, and 'Farewell to the Floor’ about the end of the lively Options Exchange Trading Floor. He also made 'de Laatste Kompels’ about the last miners in the south of the Netherlands.
For ‘Llink' he made the documentary 'Mother Earth’ about low cast Dalit women coming together to succesfully fight poverty by improving old lands and using and preserving old seeds, with Jan Paul Smit and Manuel Reigert.
For years he was the steady cameraman for the United States Memorial Holocaust Museum, for the oral history project ‘Ooggetuigen'; long interviews with survivors who could recount how the extermination of the Jews in the Netherlands took place.
With Peter Hoogendijk he made three historical documentaries about the former dutch colonies in Indonesia. 'Surabaya/Surabaya', 'Resistance in the Dutch Indies' and 'Orange Ambon’.
Another NGO he has extensively worked with is the dutch Refugee Foundation, stichting Vluchteling and International Rescue Committee (IRC), in Kyrgyzstan, Somalia/Kenya, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Central African Republic and Niger. For Free Press Unlimited he made films and photo’s with the help of Else Lenselink in Turkey, Peru, Bangladesh, Brazil, Georgia, Russia and the Ukraine, and gave training courses in Somaliland.
Paul made a large number of films for the Cyberpoli for Doctors for Children, run by neurologist Lex Winkler, more than 70 films about the needs of chroniquely ill children.
And for Eye Filmmuseum he made several series about festivals with Anna Abrahams and with Patricia van der Does he made a series about the unknown Collection Centre, the best kept secret of Eye, and about a restoration project of a unique early film collection, the Biograph.
The latest two documentaries he did with Edwin Trommelen was one about a dutch linguist Cecilia Odé helping to preserve the language and culture of a dissapearing culture in the arctic north of Siberia. Another one 'A Dream of a Building' is about the politics and the development of a crucial giant building in Amsterdam harbour, the Steltloper.
As director of photography he assisted Margriet Jansen with her long documentary about a project in Mongolia that tries to change the processing of horse hair and leather into a ecological one.
Currently Paul is busy making a documentary project about Afro-Surinam religion called ‘Winti’.
