Fanfare

In the small Dutch village of Lagerheide two members of the local brass band come to blows and the band splits in two. What follows is the story of two stubborn men and their followers, each side trying to wreck the other’s chance of being the band that represents the village at the coming competition. It was Bert Haanstra’s first feature; he wrote it with the journalist and author Jan Blokker, Jan Mul composed the music and the Concertgebouw Orchestra played it. Shooting took place in Giethoorn, a village with canals where the roads should be. With more than two and a half million admissions it became the second most watched Dutch film ever made, and it went to Cannes in 1959 and to the first Moscow film festival.