Leonard Retel Helmrich
Leonard Retel Helmrich is a Dutch cinematographer and film director of Indo descent. He was born the 16th of August 1959 in Tilburg, Netherlands and has lived in Amsterdam since 1982. He received highest honours for international documentaries at the Sundance Festival and was the first twotime International Documentary winner at the International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam .
After Indonesian independence the Helmrich family repatriated to the Netherlands during the Indo diaspora. His father, Jean Retel Helmrich, was born to a wealthy totok family in Semarang, Dutch East Indies, fought against the Japanese invaders during World War II and was interred as a POW for three years. After the war he married a Javanese woman. It was forbidden, Mr. Helmrichs sister and producer, Hetty NaaijkensRetel Helmrich, explained. They had to get permission from the queen, from the Indonesian government, the Dutch government, the Muslim church, and the Catholic Church. It was Romeo and Juliet. Growing up, the filmmaker had a lot of problems because of his dyslexia, she said. The teachers were always complaining that he was living in his own world, but already when he was a little boy he made very good drawings. The familys belief in him extended to financing Eye of the Day and getting involved in other ways. Ms. NaaijkensRetel Helmrichs production company, Scarabee, produces
Source: Wikipedia