For Anouk the camera has been part of her life since childhood but she started using it professionally for the first time during her MA in Visual Anthropology at Leiden University. There, she made her first ethnographic film called Across Gender (2016) about negotiating visibility when one ‘crosses gender’ in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. This film was screened at several film festivals such as Ethnocineca, Viscult, and Cineblend and recently won the Documentary Short Film Audience Award at Thessaloniki International LGBTQ Film Festival. This project inspired her to pursue a second MA in Gender Studies at Utrecht University, where she wrote her thesis on heteronormativity. Since the feminist knowledge and analytical skills she acquired during her studies are applicable in every aspect of society, she aims to use this angle in future projects. She believes film is a great tool for social change and has the ability to challenge, move and reach people. Anouk works for Basalt Film, a Rotterdam based documentary production company, where she is involved with the many different aspects of the production process. Besides that, she is also active as secretary for the DPN (Documentaire Producenten Nederland). Anouk has a wide range of interests but is especially passionate about projects dealing with activism, diversity, equality, feminism, gender, sexuality and power relations. Combined with her love for people and their stories, and the drive to keep on learning, a project is unlikely to remain unfinished. Anouk is fluent in Dutch and English and has basic communication skills in German and Bahasa Indonesia.
For more information about Across Gender click here.