Unknown Brood is a Dutch documentary, directed by Dennis Alink. The film depicts the life of painter and rock-'n-roll musician

Herman Brood Hermanus "Herman" Brood (; 5 November 1946 – 11 July 2001) was a Dutch musician, painter, actor and poet. As a musician he achieved artistic and commercial success in the 1970s and 1980s, and was called "the greatest and only Dutch rock 'n' r ...

and premiered at the IDFA in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. The film was nominated for Best Dutch Documentary and has been released in cinemas by distributor Amstel Film.

Synopsis

On 11 July 2001, Herman Brood commits suicide by jumping off the roof of the Hilton hotel. In his personal videos, song lyrics and interviews Brood has left a trail of breadcrumbs pertaining to the questions his death has given rise to. The documentary takes a look back to re-experience these important moments with the help of these never-before-seen footages and the people that stood closest to him.

Production

The filmmakers started this project without any budget and it took them four years to make. Before shooting began cinematographer Thomas van der Gronde and director Dennis Alink experimented with a new documentary-approach by writing a 50-page script and a graphic film-plan in which archive and new to shoot scenes would fuse. This way the locations and lighting of interviews would change and develop every other scene to complement the state of mind of Herman Brood. Eventually a small budget was raised through crowdfunding and after the film was edited the

Netherlands Film Fund The Netherlands Film Fund () is a subsidy funding, fund for Netherlands, Dutch film productions and was founded in 1993. The Netherlands Film Fund is itself mainly subsidized by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. In 2007, the tota ...

and

KPN Koninklijke KPN N.V. (Royal KPN N.V. in English), trading as KPN is a Dutch List of telephone operating companies, telecommunications company. KPN originated from a government-run postal, telegraph and telephone service and is based in Rotterda ...

stepped in so the film could be completed.

Seen in the film

Frank Black Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV (born April 6, 1965), better known by the stage name Black Francis, is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He is the frontman of the alternative rock band Pixies. Following the band's break ...

Nina Hagen Catharina "Nina" Hagen (; born 11 March 1955) is a German singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her theatrical vocals and rise to prominence during the punk and Neue Deutsche Welle movements in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She is ...

Anton Corbijn Anton Johannes Gerrit Corbijn van Willenswaard (; born 20 May 1955) is a Dutch photographer, film director, and music video director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2,Pitman, Joanna"The silent partner" ...

Henny Vrienten Henny Vrienten (27 July 1948 – 25 April 2022) was a Dutch musician best known as the singer and bassist of the popular 1980s ska pop band Doe Maar. He also composed music for television and film. Biography Early days Vrienten began his car ...

Jules Deelder Jules Anton Deelder (24 November 1944 – 19 December 2019) was a Dutch poet, spoken word poet and writer. His poems cover topics such as life in the city of Rotterdam, drug use, and jazz. He was very passionate about the Dutch language and fear ...

Dany Lademacher Dany Lademacher (born Daniël Germain Jean Lademacher, also Danny; 17 June 1950) is a Belgian guitar player. Born in Etterbeek, he played in a number of Belgian bands before joining prominent Dutch band Herman Brood and his Wild Romance. He was a ...

External links

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Official Trailer

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IDFA: Unknown Brood

Official website

Review
2016 films Dutch documentary films Rockumentaries Herman Brood Dutch rock music films {{bio-documentary-film-stub