Wim van der Aar

Being a true autodidact, Wim van der Aar (1964) started off making mostly experimental movies, but soon proved to be a gifted commercial director. Other than the famed and, more often than not, humorous commercials he directed for Albert Heijn and Calvé amongst others (Wim directed over 500 in total!), you may also know him from some of his beautiful and surprising documentaries.
His first documentary ‘De Van Waveren Tapes’ (2012) is based on a box full of audiotapes van der Aar found at a flea market. They tell the detailed life story of a troubled young man who recorded his diary and various phone calls. ‘De Van Waveren Tapes’ was shown in movie theaters across the country, and ended up being reworked into a theater play (Ro Theater) and exposition (Kunsthal).
Soon thereafter the famed documentary ‘Gabber!’ (2013) was released, for which van der Aar looked up some of the original, die-hard gabbers from the 90s. Together they tell the story of the most influential musical subculture to have ever emerged from Holland.
The latest documentary to have come from the hand of van der Aar is released this year: the intimate ‘All You Need is Me’. With this documentary van der Aar tells the life story of Dutch painter Aad Donker and his two brothers, who in the 90s were set on finding fame in the States, but lost each other along the way.