Biography of the Directors: Ilse en Femke van Velzen

Identical twin sisters Ilse and Femke van Velzen were born on the 11th of October 1980 in Delft. Both chose to study Cultural and Social Development, one in Utrecht, the other in Amsterdam. It was in their final year that they decided to pool their talent; rather than produce separate theses they created a joint venture. Opting for the medium of film they made the documentary “Bush Kids in South Africa”. The result spoke for itself; the sisters graduated in 2002.

Identical twin sisters Ilse and Femke van Velzen were born on the 11th of October 1980 in Delft. Both chose to study Cultural and Social Development, one in Utrecht, the other in Amsterdam. It was in their final year that they decided to pool their talent; rather than produce separate theses they created a joint venture. Opting for the medium of film they made the documentary “Bush Kids in South Africa”. The result spoke for itself; the sisters graduated in 2002. Their explosive careers were launched! Since 2002 the unstoppable duo have specialised in making documentaries. They expose injustice (in developing countries) to a worldwide audience and give oppressed people a voice. Ilse and Femke operate, produce and direct documentaries as independent filmmakers under their own label IFPRODUCTIONS. Their inspiration is found in choosing subjects that move them personally. Their activities have caused them to lose their hearts and minds to the African continent and its people. Amongst the films they have made are “Bush Kids”, “Return To Angola”, “Fighting The Silence” and most recently ‘Weapon of War’. Not only do they produce and direct their own documentaries, they also do all their own research, scripts and scenarios. As if this wasn’t enough, the indefatigable pair also organise a big part of the distribution of their finished products in the film festival circuit! Ilse: “We are driven by passion when making our documentaries, which can take two to three years to produce. We motivate each other to move forward to the bitter end despite the difficult paths we frequently have to take”.As independent filmmakers the pair are uniquely aware that making their sort of documentaries in their chosen countries demand time, energy and resilience. Femke: “Once we’ve sunk our teeth into a subject we don’t let go until we’ve achieved our aims. Failure? What’s that?” IFPRODUCTIONS is more than just a film label. An essential part of their work is to fight injustice by using the produced documentaries as sustainable educational projects. Ilse and Femke reach out to local communities by bringing back their films as educational tools to lift people out of inequality and violence. The project ‘The Mobile Cinema’ in the Democratic Republic of Congo is an example of one of these projects. It is a cinema that travels from village to village in east Congo and shows a film about sexual violence to thousands of people to make the subject discussible and to overcome injustice.