Interview with Dani Van Duin from CULTfilm

WORM’s CULTfilm series is long established and well known for bringing some of the most bizarre, confrontational and downright risqué screenings to the Boomgaardsstraat. Long under the curatorship of Alex Diehl and Sebastiaan Luiten, now the baton is passed on to Dani Van Duin.

A native of Leiden, an academic, and no stranger to getting their hands dirty in underground culture, Dani also screens CULTfilm at Vrijplaats in Leiden. We asked Dani about her thoughts, plans, and hopes around CULTfilm.

What should we expect from your approach to CULTfilm?

I have an academic background in film, but I am also really interested in this kind of film: it’s really my passion. So I think it’s really a lot of fun to connect my academic background to this kind of film which is not done very often! [Laughs.] I think it’s an interesting approach because these films are often screened just for fun and yet they are crazy and intense. But I think there is also a deeper layer to them.

That’s why I always do introductions to the night and I always try to point out a deeper theme or I often tie them to gender or feminism – because those are my personal interests. 

For example, I showed Driller Killer a while ago, a film which I connected to toxic masculinity and the rise of the right. I always look for topics that are current. I think that gives a screening a little bit extra: it adds to the experience.

Why do you think academics have a good role to play in expanding, or expounding cultural forms like those shown at CULTfilm?

Horror has always been one of the lower forms of entertainment, so to speak, and pulp films are seen maybe as even lower, but I think that is just wrong. And I like to bring that point of view over to people, and try to show them a different experience. I also think there’s much more honesty in these kinds of films, as they’re normally not backed by studios or other elements that interfere. So, in short, people make these films from the heart and often say what they really want to say, instead of being filtered through a process.  

And I think these are interesting for academia because this is closer to people’s actual emotions…

Do you think academia sometimes tries to filter emotions out of things and anaesthetize work?

Exactly, and especially in film theory because it’s often the bigger productions that are being discussed, but I think the kinds of films I show really deserve a place.

This notion of “the embodied”: as you’ve hinted at, the films shown at CULTfilm are often quite physical. And sometimes evoke a physical reaction. And with theory, people sometimes search for answers that maybe don’t exist. 

Yes: it is always what you make of it and that’s the whole death of the author theory! [Laughs.] I can maybe see something in these films the maker maybe didn’t intend. For example I was at the Final Girls Film Festival in Berlin a few weeks ago and I saw Mother of Flies and I saw a whole feminist allegory in it. Director Toby Poser was there, and I told her about my experience with the film and I don’t think it was intended – and it seemed it was an interesting thing for her too! The Hollywood films are more like formulas and don’t leave a lot of room for interpretation. With these kinds of films there is a lot more room for that, and that’s what makes them more interesting. 

…Last month I did Sugar Rot at WORM and that film brings up a lot of intense emotions in people. I did several screenings and while some people came up to me and told me they loved it, some people got really angry. They would say it’s so intense and gross and even misogynistic and, yes, l can see that. But it’s important, in that it starts a conversation about these topics. Yes, Sugar Rot is about sexual violence and mysogyny and how women are seen as objects for male pleasure.But the way the film’s subject is depicted is either ambiguous or it’s not; it’s just the way you interpret it.

A lot of the “power”, or allure of these films comes from the fact that they are traditionally difficult to find. Now, with the sheer ubiquity of looking at things on a screen, how do you think these films retain their power; how do they negotiate this world of constant screen time in our lives? 

Hard-to-find films; they really still do exist! Right now I am working with a few films that have only been shown at the BUT Film Festival, and you can’t see them anywhere else. That’s why I am bringing them to other places. Being able to download things changes that a little bit but I still manage to find really rare films.

And, as I hinted at before, I think it also takes some work from the audience. But for me, being able to share those things with an audience and seeing their response to them is really important. They take their own interest into these films. And I think people see the CULTfilm name and – I don’t want to say they see it as a guarantee – but people know they’re going to see something special. We need more of that.

…Also, being able to share that with an audience in real life. At WORM, I can’t stay until the end, but in Leiden I can, and I love talking to people who have just seen a film and then listening to their experiences. This is what I want to do.

It’s said that underground culture has lost its way a bit – lots of things became mainstream. 

I agree; and what I would say to that still, is that seeing a film is always very personal. Everyone has a slightly different experience. Of course there is some overlap, but everyone is watching a film from the starting point of their own experience and knowledge. And this fact is what makes watching these kinds of films very special, because the experience is very much more [sic]. For example, when I look at the Letterboxd ratings, Sugar Rot has ratings that are all over the place. And then some other ratings are really bad and really good. And those are the types of films that interest me because they seem to divide people. But they also stoke conversations and people talk to each other. People have got angry at me for programming a film – they would really hate it! Now, I don’t feel personally attacked, and I always say when confronted with this reaction, “yes; but you will never forget this!” [Laughs.]  

You can’t make everyone happy and I don’t think you should!

That brings me on to WORM, quite naturally… How do you see WORM initially, from the outside looking in?

I think it’s a very important place. Because it gives a lot of space to a lot of different voices. I don’t get much chance to go to other things apart from CULTfilm screenings, but I see the programming and the agenda and I love the variety of the events. I think it’s a very important place. I must say I feel I have a lot of freedom in my programming, right from the start, and that is very special.

Did Alex and Sebastiaan have anything to say when they handed over? 

Not really. I have a lot of ideas of showing films that are maybe more in Alex’s corner. We share the name: I am expanding screenings to different cities but I believe he’s also setting something up in Tilburg, under the CULTfilm name. We are maybe building a website. But I do like doing the introductions, whether it’s a short history or analysis.

Do you have any specific themes or genres you want to push now you’ve taken over?

No five year plans! I’ll just see how it goes. And CULTfilm is such a broad name you can’t really pin it down. I don’t want to box it in.  

…But it’s just whatever comes up, so I expect it’ll be a million personal favourites that I’d like to share with people. Still: I want to try some new things. In April I will have a VHS screening of a film about a band, Rockbitch, the film’s called called Bitchcraft. I knew Rockbitch personally back then, so I will do an interview and share some personal experiences. I met them when I was 18 and I saw them every time they played the Netherlands. I had a crazy time, but also had some fantastic experiences. Their reputation was pretty intense of course, but they were the sweetest people I ever met. And I recently got in touch with them again, so I was able to do this screening, from VHS, because they were like, “Do you still have a copy of this film?” It’s a film that is really special. 

Thanks to Dani for her time: Bitchcraft is screening on the 8th April 2026 at WORM.