born in amsterdam in 1949. the netherlands film academy (1968-1972). founded, together with a group of fellow students, the dutch film magazine skrien in 1968; regularly published articles about film in periodicals and newspapers in the following decade.
right after graduation from the film academy in 1972, she was employed as the script girl in the production of the most popular dutch movie of all times, turkish delight. next, she acted as assistant director for several fiction films. in 1974 she was a co-founder of the amsterdams stadsjournaal [amsterdam city newsreel], a film collective in which she participated until 1980.
her feature debut golven [the waves] was the first adaptation to the screen of a novel by virginia woolf. it was an art house box office success in 1982.
so far, she directed over 40 fiction films and documentaries. in addition, she used to direct theatre plays.