Rob Rombout
Born in Amsterdam in 1953, grew up in the Zaan region. Has lived and worked in Brussels since 1975, and now also in Lisbon. Works in Dutch, French and English.
He taught documentary directing at Sint-Lukas, now LUCA School of Arts, in Brussels from 1988 to 2018, and is a co-founder of DocNomads, the international master’s in documentary film.
He can be invited for screenings with a talk, masterclasses, workshops, juries and exhibitions.
Recognition
- 1988Grand prize, Festival de Montbéliard, for Entre deux tours
- 1994Retrospective and workshop, Videobrasil, São Paulo
- 2012World premiere of Amsterdam Stories USA at IDFA, Amsterdam
- 2013Audience Award, IndieLisboa, for Amsterdam Stories USA
- 2016Complete retrospective, Guimarães
- 2022Focus Rob Rombout, Strasbourg, and Marc-Emmanuel Mélon’s monograph La mise en scène du réel
- 2025Retrospective and exhibition, Cinemateca Portuguesa, Lisbon
Press
“He waits until a pose disappears, until your jaw relaxes.”
“documenteur du monde”
Timeline
1953–1978
From the Zaanstreek to film school
Born in Amsterdam on 8 July 1953 and raised in Zaandam. Moves to Brussels in 1975 and studies film at RITCS; his student film dates from 1978.
c. 1979–1987
Community television in Liège
Directs and edits for Canal Emploi, a television made with and for unemployed workers in Liège. Summer guests include Johan van der Keuken and Jean-Louis Comolli.
1987
The turn to form
Entre deux tours leaves direct cinema behind and opens his work to the language of video art.
1988–
The teacher
Teaches directing at Sint-Lukas, later LUCA, from 1988 to 2018; a founding member of the DocNomads master and its course director in Brussels, 2012–2019; ten years of sessions at the Hanoi film school; workshops from Beirut to Prague, São Paulo and Lisbon.
1990–1994
Closed worlds in motion
A train to Moscow, the last transatlantic liner, an oil rig with eighty-five men and one woman.
1995–2004
Islands and extremes
The Azores, a festival in the Urals at minus twenty-five, the feral cats of Kerguelen, Guangzhou with Robert Cahen, eight train compartments in Alsace, the building of the Queen Mary 2.
1997–2012
Following a name
With Rogier van Eck, the places that carry the name Amsterdam: two islands at the ends of the earth, then fifteen American towns.
2010–2021
China and Judge Dee
A portrait of the Dutch diplomat and sinologist Robert van Gulik, filmed across three continents and screened across China.
2015–
Portraits and retrospectives
Photographs shown in Brussels, Porto, Brisbane, Liège, Paris, Lisbon and Bredevoort. A monograph in 2022, a photobook in 2024, retrospectives in Strasbourg and Lisbon. A new film, VideoVeterans, in 2026.