Wouter Barendrecht (1965-2009)

As everyone in the film world now knows, Fortissimo Films co-chairman Wouter Barendrecht has passed away. It was a mere two weeks ago in Hong Kong that I and everyone else could see Mr. Barendrecht gleefully collecting a well-deserved Asian Film Award (for Tokyo Sonata), working hard at the market and living it up at the parties.

In addition to the official statement on Fortissimo's site, my editor Liz Shackleton and our Screen Asia team gathered tributes from key people in the industry who had some great things to say about the man -- read them here.

I think this quote from an article in the Bangkok Post sums up why he had such talent and success in introducing and producing films:

Only films that are honest to their local cultures will go far internationally. You can't make a film that has international fame by ignoring your own culture.

Update: In a testament to how important a figure Wouter Barendrecht was in Asian and independent cinema, there are hundreds of tributes to him here.