HET NOORDERPLANTSOEN

ABOUT HILCO

Hilco Jansma (1979) earned his MSc in biology in at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. In his spare time he developed his skills for filming and editing. He volunteered in the 'Flightartists' project at the Wageningen University and operated a Phantom highspeed camera. This resulted in spectacular footage of animals in slow motion which was handed to the film team of the Dutch natural history documentary film ‘De Nieuwe Wildernis’.

In 2014 Hilco decided to make a nature documentary on ‘Het Noorderplantsoen’ in the city of Groningen, fully in charge of the camera, script, editing and production. His goal is to show people that nature is everywhere, even on our doorstep and that urban nature can be just as fascinating as what we see in BBC documentaries on exotic places. He wants to amaze people to enhance sustainable use of our environment.

In the summer of 2015 his documentary was screened in local cinemas and the Noorderzon festival, drawing over 1500 visitors. Subsequently the film had its world premiere at the Wildlife Film Festival Rotterdam 2015, at which his short video ‘A Leap of Frog’ won the audience award for non-professional documentary. Additionally Hilco was awarded a Green Ribbon by a member of the House of Representatives of the Dutch Parliament for the contribution to more public awareness for nature in the city of Groningen.

In December 2016 Hilco released a special edition of his Dutch documentary on DVD which is now for sale in the local bookshops and online at Bol.com. The Dutch society for the protection of birds supported this release because of the initiative to inform a greater audience on birds.

Other festivals the documentary was selected for are: Noorderkroon, Nature Talks, NaturVision, Menigoute en Greenscreen. At the latter it was awarded an 'Honourable mention'.