Put to the test : SOUND Experience

Herman Slobbe, blind kind 2

Johan Van Der Keuken

1966
Netherlands
24'
Documentary
B&W
VOSTF

Two years after making his film BLIND KIND, Van der Keuken contacted the blind boy that had impressed him most at the time. Fourteen-year-old Herman Slobbe is a fanatical music lover, for whom the blues is the only true music style. He has his own radio programme and is a gifted mouth organist.

He squabbles with his mother about their differing musical tastes. Together, they go to the car races, and back home Herman brilliantly imitates the engine sounds he heard there. Strolling around at a fair, Van der Keuken allows the boy to comment on what he experiences. His perceptions are witty and pertinent. Later in life, he would like most to work for radio, but he wonders if people really need a blind man there. Sound engineer could be another possibility; Van der Keuken gives him a foretaste of this profession. 

Screenplay
Johan van der Keuken
Photography
Johan van der Keuken
Sound
Dick Polack, Jaap Gerritse, Herman Slobbe
Music
Archie Shepp
Editing
Johan van der Keuken, Cor Brand
Production
V PRO

Films in the Retrospective