The hum of Holland (original title: Hoe luidt het land)
A documentary film by Stella van Voorst van Beest.
With the participation of sound artist Justin Bennett

The film got premiered in September 2012, next screening will be on Nov 28 at WORM in Rotterdam.

What does the Netherlands sound like? Do we still take the time to listen carefully to the sounds around us? Or is the soundscape so satiated that we prefer to seclude ourselves? What does all this sound do to us? Is there a place left in the Netherlands that is really quiet? And what does this sound like, real silence?
With these questions in mind, Stella van Voorst van Beest leads us through the Netherlands and makes us experience extraordinary and everyday sounds, reveals how sound is visible in the Dutch landscape and searches and finds silence in occasionally unexpected places.

This way, we get to know the Dutch soundscape and see how deeply sound literally and figuratively penetrates our daily life. THE HUM OF HOLLAND ‘shows’ the Netherlands from an aural perspective, presenting a surprising and confronting portrait of a familiar landscape. A journey across a noisy country, examining its ambivalent relationship with silence.