Award-winning director and producer Willy Lindwer has dedicated his distinguished career to high-quality documentaries and TV-series for the Dutch and international markets.

For many years he was a staff member of Dutch Television and the Dutch World Broadcasting System. In 1985, Willy Lindwer established his own company, AVA Productions (Audio Visual Arts and Productions). AVA has produced numerous succesful television series, documentaries and books, for both the Dutch and the international television market.

Driven by a passion for oral history and his interest in exploring human hardships, he has travelled extensively around the globe, producing highly acclaimed series of programs about Europe, Africa and the Far East. Lindwer’s company, AVA Productions, also produced major international series on art, history and social themes. The 6 part series, “Imagination Captivated by Reality”, covering five centuries of Dutch art, was broadcast around the world. The series, “Past and Present Preserved”, about 13 Dutch museums, was shown in more than twenty five countries, including Japan, England, France, Germany and the US. In addition, AVA developed popular series about social structures and the justice system.

Willy Lindwer has also earned world-wide recognition with his series of documentaries about the Holocaust. AVA’s documentaries are world-wide represented by FILMS TRANSIT, Montreal, Canada.

Willy Lindwer’s many awards for his international documentaries include:

1988 - International Emmy Award, Best Documentary:
"The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank"

1993 - National Award for Best Dutch Documentary:
"Child in Two Worlds, Jewish War Orphans"

1994 - Dutch Nominee for International Emmy Award:
"Simon Wiesenthal: Freedom is Not a Gift from Heaven"

1999 – New York Film Festival Documentary Award:
"Yitzhak Rabin: Warrior/Peacemaker"