A riveting documentary about activist artist Tinkebell – VPRO Documentary Guide

Tinkibelle (Katinka Simons, 1979) is her own work of art: everything she encounters in the course of her life can become part of her activist story. It's up to director Judith de Leeuw (1981) to break through that. The end result is eye-catching Tinkebell – Who Killed the Blue Bird?which can be seen tonight on Wolf hourturned out to be a “huge professional challenge”.

Why did this film have to be made?
Judith De Leeuw (1995): 'Katinka, I see, is not much different from the others. But because she magnifies everything so much, she sees everything is better with her. “That's why I thought she was so suitable to be the main character of a global film about life and aging.”

How to proceed?
“Tinkebell is so powerful at telling her story on camera that it's hard to get past her. I felt like the only way I could get past that was to take a different path. That's why I dug into the archives: I collected all the existing footage of Katinka – about 380 hours –: images from The public archive, from her youth and from the people around her. I also received all the material from documentary filmmakers who had previously tried to make a film about her, but the project failed halfway through.

You did it.
“Yes, I think it's because I turned away from her. She said she found it annoying having to make arrangements with the camera crew.