When founded by George Brugmans in 1994 the first project AMAGO produced was a series of three 50” dance films commissioned by the Dutch public broadcaster, VPRO: Flamenco Women, directed by Mike Figgis; Way of the Weed, directed by Peter Missotten in collaboration with William Forsythe; and Aubette: la grande salle des fête, directed by Frank Alsema in collaboration with Karin Post.

Brugmans was the series editor of 4tokenSII, six short dance films (broadcasted by NPS, BBC, a.o.) and the curator of Alma e Corpo, six video installations, commissioned by the Fundaçao Serralves, Oporto, Portugal

The company went to sleep in 1996 when Brugmans became commissioning editor with the VPRO, a Dutch public broadcasting organization, where he was the editor in chief of DNW (The New World) and  produced some 200 documentaries, several of which he directed himself.
In 2003 he decided to become an independent producer again, and Amago sprang back to life. Since then the company has produced several documentaries, a.o. The Brooklyn Connection and The Smell of Paradise, and the trilogy The Riverside Conversations.

 

 

BACKGROUND:

Brugmans has build up a deep and extensive expertise as a producer in the arts. After an international career in the Performing Arts a.o. as Director of the Springdance Festival in Utrecht, Holland; and as Artistic and Programming Director of the Summerfestival of Salzburg, Austria, and of the Encontros Acarte Festival in Lisbon, Portugal. In 1992 Brugmans became the Chairman of Bergen, a Dutch production house for the performing arts and the cinema. The company produced several feature films, a.o. Antonia’s Line (Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, 1995), and shorts such as Bitings and other effects (Golden Calf for Best Dutch Short Film, 1994).
Brugmans has written several scenarios for feature films, i.e. De Wisselwachter /The Pointsman (Jos Stelling, 1986, released in over 75 different countries), De Vliegende Hollander/The Flying Dutchman (Jos Stelling, 1995, released in over 50 countries), and Coppi (1992).

He served as a member of the Committee of Cultural Consultants of the European Commission, and as an advisor to the Dutch Government as member of the National Art Council. Currently he is the vice-president of the Board of Governors of the Amsterdam Art Council.
In 2004 he was the Guest Curator at Funlab, the mastercourse of the Design Academy in Eindhoven, and in the same year he was also appointed director of the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam.
 

 


FILMOGRAPHY George Brugmans:

 "…and the dancing will continue"
a portrait of Hong Kong just before the take over.
co-director, with Rob Schröder, and camera; VPRO 1997
The film was selected for the Kwangju Biennial, South-Korea and Cities on the Move, Wiener Secession, Vienna, Austria.

 

 


Very Very Kyoto                     
a portrait of four Japanese women against the background of the crisis in Japan.
co-director, with Chris Dercon, and camera, VPRO 1997
 

 

 


The Second Coming of Columbus
a film introducing and explaining ‘globalization’, featuring John Gray, Joseph Stiglitz, Vandana Shiva, Michael Mussa, and others.
director, VPRO 2000

 

 

The Soothsayers of The New World
an inquiry into the future based on long interviews with the investor Jim Rogers and the global consultant Peter Schwartz.
co-director, with Frank Wiering, VPRO 2002.

 

Anew, from Ground Zero
a trilogy on “9-11”, featuring Karen Armstrong, Manuel Castells and Benjamin Barber, and filmed in the U.S., Europe and Central-Asia.
director, VPRO 2002
part 1 : The Temple -  the view from New York
part 2 : The Mountain -  the view from Chechnya
part 3 : The Mission -  a view towards the future

 

The Promised Land
portrait of Rwanda, an inquiry into the future of a traumatized nation ten years after the genocide.
director, VPRO 2003
 
 

 

THE RIVERSIDE TRILOGY

The Riverside Conversations, part 1: The Future of the World
Investor Jim Rogers discusses the global economic forecast with his colleague Marc Faber and with Daniel Yergin, oil expert and advisor to the White House.
director, VPRO 2003


The Riverside Conversations, part 2: The Future of Europe
Investors Jim Rogers and Marc Faber discuss Europe’s economic outlook withAntony Burgmans, CEO of Unilever.
director, Amago 2004


The Riverside Conversations, part 3: The Sale of Georgia
Jim Rogers and Marc Faber speak with Kakha Bendookidze, the State Minister for Economic Reform. Can Bendookidze convince Rogers and Faber to invest in a future "Hong Kong of Central Asia"?
director, Amago 2005