Welcome to Humans of Film Amsterdam!
In September 2014 I returned to Amsterdam, the Netherlands after I had been studying for four years at The New School University in New York. During my studies, I always felt the need to start a blog. I thought of many things. One of them was to write the stories and hardships of international students, but I never felt that any of my ideas were good enough. So, nothing ever came of this idea. When I was back in the Netherlands I began to study for my Master’s at the University of Amsterdam and I tried to find work in film or anything with social media, web editing, photography, and writing. At this point I was well aware of Humans of New York and Humans of Amsterdam; two photoblogs that spoke to me in a profound way. I had the opportunity to intern and work for short periods at several museums. It is during that time that I discovered a love for storytelling and giving voice to others, but only until I had an epiphanous moment in early 2017, came the idea to combine the ‘Humans’ aspect with stories coming from people, their self-identification with films, documentaries, etc, which I accompanied with photography. That is how Humans of Film Amsterdam was born.
My name is Feargal Agard, and I love film, photography and writing people’s stories. When I started Humans of Film Amsterdam I didn’t really have an idea of what I was doing. I had already developed some photography skills and I know how to build and maintain a website and social media, but I had never started one from scratch. I started to walk the streets of Amsterdam and I basically learned everything that I know today along the way. It was scary to approach people but eventually, I made some peace with it. It is my mission to find stories that show the believe that I have which is that films, documentaries, and other filmic mediums reflect us, humans. They show our hopes, our dreams, our imagination, our voices but most importantly real-life and recognizable situations that we’ve gone through or witnessed happening.
One year has passed and so far things have been really amazing! I met many interesting people, I was invited to talk about the blog on the radio (BNN-VARA Academy), I have a monthly column in De Filmkrant and I was invited by CinemAsia Film Festival to interview FilmLABbers and well-known filmmakers like Joko Anwar and Martin Koolhoven. I slowly see a community growing around it and that truly touches me and I cannot do it without the people who trust me with their stories, but also not without the ones who support their stories. Humans of Film Amsterdam is a unique way to approach people to talk about films and the impact that it has on their personal lives and experiences. This is the place where Humans and Film come together. Feel welcome and continue to join me on my mission. Thank you!
Foundation | Stichting Humans of Film
Since November 2019 Humans of Film Amsterdam, LGBTQ Humans of Amsterdam and Humans fo Film Festival have been reorganized from a non-organization/one-man project to a Foundation/Stichting registered at the Dutch Chamber of Commerce and the Dutch Tax Revenue Services (De Belastingdienst). We are now able to apply for subsidies to cover the costs of future projects. Of course, receiving subsidies is not a guarantee, but this can definitely help support the projects. The type of foundation/Stichting that we are, means that we are a non-profit.
Stichting Humans of Film
- KVK: 76388093
- RSIN: 860608414
- BANK // IBAN: NL16 BUNQ 2045 2572 90
WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT?
The Human Stories: You can expect a ‘human film story’ every week.
The Film Reviews/blogs: You can expect one post every two weeks. You can find them on the website. The films that will be reviewed are carefully selected from the press film release list provided by the Film Distributors Netherlands (FDN) which is a branch organization for movie distributors.
Social Media: You can follow on Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Tumblr | Youtube | Google+ | Linkedin.
Youtube: Coming up with my newest idea soon.
Copyright: All the photos are owned by the Humans of Film Amsterdam project. Go to the contact page on the website to contact the founder about the images, obtaining images and the appropriate way of showing credits.
Humans of Film Amsterdam in the media/press.
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LGBTQ Humans of Amsterdam.
Everyone has a story to tell. LGBTQ Humans of Amsterdam is a safe place where a wide scala of LGBTQIAA+ persons can speak up and share their stories, or discuss subjects that need to be heard. You can read the stories in both Dutch and English. The project is an initiative of Humans of Film Amsterdam in collaboration with De Gaykrant. You can find the stories on Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram. The feed that you see below always displays the six latest posts. For more? Just click on the highlighted social media channel that you’d like to visit. Like, follow, share and comment on the stories and help the LGBTQIAA+ grow.