Dutch-American creative duo Eline Jongsma and Kel O’Neill (Jongsma + O’Neill) use documentary and XR storytelling to explore history’s impact on today’s society. They created His Name Is My Name, an Instagram-based documentary about family secrets and the legacy of WWII.
At the heart of His Name is My Name is the personal journey of one of its makers, Eline Jongsma. Jongsma grew up unaware that her great-grandfather was a Nazi-aligned mayor famous for his penchant for violence. Known as Gekke Gerrit, (“Crazy Gerry”), this hidden ancestor was wiped from the family history after the war. But secrets can’t stay hidden forever, and once Jongsma discovers Gerrit’s existence, she becomes obsessed with reconstructing his story—even if it means finding out that he may not be the only perpetrator hiding in her family tree.
Part detective thriller and part personal visual essay, His Name Is My Name tracks Eline’s investigation into her family’s history, and shines a light into a still-dark corner of The Netherlands’ past. His Name Is My Name won the special jury award for creative technology at IDFA in 2022, and has been especially adapted into a 33 minute film with the help of IDFA and Kamp Westerbork.
The documentary can be watched in De Balie prior to the programme Vergiftigde tijden met George Friedrich Haas.
Meer Holland Festival
In collaboration with Holland Festival
The central question in this programme is how he freed himself from his family’s Nazi ideology, and what the role of art is to find liberty.
In collaboration with Holland Festival
Where is the line between reality and fiction? What is power? What structures govern society? These are central questions in her work, which explores the intersections between artistic disciplines.
