WEEKENDER #12 // 100%HALAL INTERVIEW
You have to climb quite some stairs to reach the 100% Halal office. But once you have arrived at their attic in an old mansion at the Herenmarkt, serenity and cosiness will surround you. 100% Halal is an Amsterdam based photography agency and production company, owned by Gijs Kerbosch, Gijs Determeijer and Roel Oude Nijhuis. As the first in our country they produce documentary, as well as commercials, music videos and features. They are keen to grow. Abroad, and within The Netherlands. “It would be quite nice to take it to the next level now.”
Don’t expect Halal-eating guys here. They have their beards, yes, but the name actually started as a joke. “There is no deeper exalted message behind it. But the 100% refers to us: we always go for it, one hundred percent”, says Determeijer, who I speak to for this interview. He is responsible for the commercial part of the company and is the founding father of the photography agency. Three years ago Kerbosch asked Determeijer to join the company. Over two coffee dates, in which not a word was spoken about business, the deal was set. Oude Nijhuis already was part of the company at that time.
They seem to be a dream team. Where Kerbosch’s quality lies in planting seeds, germination, long-term projects, and developing a concept from scratch to something big (like with the New Kids feature), Oude Nijhuis’ is at his best working on documentary, music videos and content driven material. Determeijer’s passion lies in feature length films as well, but he admits he doesn’t quite have such a long attention span as Kerbosch. So commercials, with a shorter workflow, are really his thing. And with the back office of 100% Halal to help him, he has time for his second passion: photography.
Back in the days, 100% Halal had three directors under their wings. Now they count eight directors and seven photographers. Growing, yes.
“Well, that is what I tend to hear from other people [laughs]. It depends on how you define success. We grew in the crisis. We are still small but we really only take the jobs we like. We never need to do anything for money, to cover the overhead, or to pay our staff. So I think we are successful in the way that we have made a very strong brand of 100% Halal during the last few years. People no longer come to us with stupid ideas.”
What are the company’s ambitions?
“Two things. Firstly: we don’t want to narrow ourselves. We want to keep making everything: photography, film, documentary, music videos. All. And we really want to make work with a signature.”
“A signature of the author. I’m not saying we will never make a supermarket commercial, but we usually make whatever the director wants to make, so it will have a twist.
The second ambition is that our works crosses borders. (..) The Netherlands is quite small. I think internationally there is a much bigger audience for opinionated work.”
How would you describe that opinionated work of yours?
“For film I think we cover three areas. First of all: Our sense of humour is quite edgy. It is not the standard Dutch humour you see in TV-commercials. We have, I think, a darker sense of humour.
The second thing we are good at, is the border between documentary and TV-commercials. I think we are the only company in The Netherlands that produces both.
The third thing is actually where we started with back then: we have a lot of directors that studied at art school instead of film school, and have a natural disposition toward form. So those are the three pillars: form, documentary and black humour.”
How do you select your photographers and directors?
“Partly by their work and partly on personality. Sometimes we see nice work on the internet. Sometimes we know someone. (..) For photography it really purely is my own taste. I like the rougher photography, so to say.”
“With directors too, but our taste is broader here. (..) But if we see some great work that looks a lot like the work of a director we already work with, then we have to take that into account.”
What would be the best tagline for 100% Halal?
“It is difficult to summarize what we do in one sentence, but I think we are quite unpretentious, doing super cool work with super nice people. The attitude is in the work, not in our people.”
What was the most special moment for 100% Halal until now?
The moment Johan Kramer (founder of KesselsKramer) chose to join us. For me, he is in the top five of Dutch commercial-makers, and he’s renowned internationally as well. I think that it is a confirmation that we are the production company of the future.”
What is your opinion about the cultural entrepreneurship for artists we see these days?
“I think it is reality for most artists to split their time. That you work for your money 50% of the time, and devote the other 50% to your art. If that comes together, of course, that’s great. I think it is important – certainly within the time we live in – you do both. (..) "It is not the time to sit back and wait.”
That is one thing 100% Halal won’t do. So remember. Within five years or so. It started here. And you were there.
NOTES ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHERS
“Karen Rosetzsky is one of our most successful photographers. Her work contains the unique combination of femininity, rawness, rock and roll, and brings together fashion, music and people.
Johan Kramer is one of the most creative people on earth. He has a super creative spirit, now finally showing his photography work to an audience.
Tim Georgeson has a super raw, authentic style. His work is commercially applicable for those who dare.
Jonathan Leder is an analogue, erotic photographer, who was born twenty years too late. He truly only does whatever the hell he likes: photographing naked girls.
Noël Loozen is a super accessible, humorous story teller and artist. Noël is the future of photography.
Peter Rad's photos are like a film still: you want to know what happened before and after. Recently he has become a huge Instagram fan.
Lard Buurman is the perfect example of documentary and art coming together. His photography appear to capture one moment in time, but actually expose constructed moments that never happened.”
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