The Gert and Hermien Story (2020)

‘The Gert & Hermien Story’ shows the rise and fall of one of the most popular singing duo’s from Dutch history: Gert and Hermien Timmerman. Their career has seen many big ups and downs. Their personal lives, marked by scandals, were widely reported by several gossip magazines. Daughter Sandra is, next to several other intimates, our guide in the unlikely story of her narcistisch, manipulative father and her driven mother.

TV broadcast: June 9th 2021 at 8.25 pm on NPO 1

Watch online via NPO Start(in Dutch)

In the media

• RTV Oost: Het turbulente leven van Gert en Hermien in tv-documentaire vastgelegd
• Gelderlander: Thomas Verbogt “Ik heb wat Gert en Hermien deden en zongen nooit zo bijgehouden”
• NU.nl: Ruim een miljoen kijkers zien documentaire over zangduo Gert en Hermien
• Opium radio 4: Het gesprek – Hans Heijnen
• Parool: Documentaire over zangduo Gert en Hermien: ‘Gossip was hun opium’
• AD: Gert en Hermien: zangduo naast de Heer, maar ook met aardse zonden
• NRC: Hermien kreeg een hartaanval op het podium, Gert vond doorzingen belangrijker dan meegaan naar het ziekenhuis

Director

Hans Heijnen

Hans Heijnen was born in 1957 in Sittard. He studied political science and in 1981 he went to study at the Dutch Film Academy; he graduated in 1985. He wrote various filmscripts for the EAFA and First Floor Features. Since 1988 Hans Heijnen is working as a freelance-documentary filmmaker voor NOS/NPS and VPRO. After two nominations he received a Golden Calf for is Documentary works at the Dutch Film Festival. (1996). In 1999 he won the Silver Spire Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival for his documentary: “Lisdoonvarna, Lourdes of Love”. In september 2000 the Dutch Film Festival held a retrospective of his films which show the life of people in rural areas, which is a theme in his work.

Credits

Director & Scenario Hans Heijnen

Camera Adrie Schrover NSC

Sound Bert van den Dungen

Montage Ozan Olçay NCE

Mixage Wim Post

Research Gerard Nijssen

Postproduction Ruud de Bruyn

End editor NTR Oscar van der Kroon

Producer Frank van den Engel

This film was funded with the support of CoBo