Memorial sculpture for slain Dutch filmmaker revealed

by Kaitlin | March 19, 2007 at 01:26 pm

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This statue is another chapter the ongoing aftermath of Theo Van Gogh's murder nearly three years ago. Van Gogh was a prominent and controversial filmmaker who caught the attention of the Islamic community with a fictionalized film he made detailing the lives of abused Muslim women (the film was written by Hirsi Ali, a Muslim woman and Member of Parliament in Holland). VanGogh's ensuing murder sparked a backlash in Amsterdam that resulted in acts of violence on mosques and other Islamic landmarks.

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – Friends and fans of the Dutch filmmaker found dead with a note pinned to his chest with a knife unveiled a memorial sculpture that depicts him screaming near the spot where he was murdered by an Islamic extremist.

Mayor Job Cohen and a Dutch comedian praised the controversial Theo Van Gogh and his work as the sculpture by Jeroen Henneman was revealed Sunday to hundreds of people gathered at a park in eastern Amsterdam.

Titled “The Scream,” the memorial took the form of a series of profiles of Van Gogh in stainless steel-coated ceramics, showing the film maker gradually opening his mouth into a scream.