_{Hanna van Vliet by Romy Treebusch}

Van Vliet does not hail from an acting family (her parents are doctors), nor did she grow up in a thespian-laden metropolis (she is from the small town of Gorinchem outside Rotterdam). But she nevertheless performed in theatre from the age of six, and hanging around acting folk for many years inevitably informed her future calling. “I guess there is much more of an open-minded vibe among actors than I was used to in my own little town where I grew up,” she says.

Van Vliet applied to study Drama and Contemporary Music Theatre at Amsterdam University of the Arts, where she graduated in 2014. 

In 2018, she co-created the series ANNE+ in response to the lack of adequate and nuanced queer representation on television. The show was innovative - funny, smart, heart-breaking and challenging in equal measure - and Hanna played the lead role, that of a young gay woman navigating and shaping the world even as she was experiencing it. Her performances led to a Golden Calf nomination, and a feature version of ANNE+*, once again with Van Vliet in the leading role, premiered in October 2021. “We are working in such a big circle of trust,” she says of her friends and colleagues in the ongoing ANNE+ project.

In 2021 she starred in the feature Quicksand**, directed by Margot Schaap and co-starring Elsie de Brauw, and then in 2022 the feature film Lost Transport** by Saskia Diesing. Since 2018 she has also been much in demand on television (ANNE+ season two and De Droom van de Jeugd among others) and on stage (The Seagull, Sweet Sixteen and Dangerous Liaisons).

“I got to understand what film acting is about, not only in ANNE+ but across different kinds of roles,” says Van Vliet, noting how she has been free to experiment and explore myriad characters. “And I got to play in a feature film with one of my big heroes, one of my favourite actresses of all time, Elsie de Brauw. For me, something like that is such a big opportunity to learn and get better.”

Van Viet underlines how she would like to work internationally, and would be very keen to tackle English-language roles, but what underpins all future work is both playing and helping to create new multi-layered and nuanced female roles.

In this she professes a desire to work with Dutch filmmaker Mijke de Jong, whose Along the Way* was selected to close IFFR 2022.

“Yeah, let us just write new narratives, just like we did with ANNE+,” Van Vliet exclaims. “We started that project out of necessity because we never saw lesbians on screen, lesbian people that felt real to us. I have an issue with the way women are portrayed in film and TV, and also in the theatre pieces written 200 years ago or more. We can keep adapting those pieces, and that's also cool and fun and, you know, switch the roles and let the women play men and the other way around, but it is also interesting to create new narratives for our time. I look forward to meet people who are interested in doing this as well.”

Which is why Van Vliet is eagerly anticipating her Shooting Star experience, to be held in person in 2022 and not online.

“My expectations are just to have fun. We have been talking to a lot of casting directors from all over the world and it would be cool to meet more like-minded creators, to meet more cool female filmmakers, more cool queer creators,” she says. “It would be nice to spread my wings a little further. And if it is not literally about a project, then just to meet people to talk about film. I love that - travelling to festivals to have some beers with inspiring people.”

For more information on the Berlinale, click here. Have a look at the full Berlinale and European Film Market selection here.
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*Film is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund
**Film is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund and Production Incentive