Willy Mullens

Biography

Born among the windmills of Weesp on 4 October 1880, Willy Mullens grew up to juggle cameras instead of wooden clogs. In 1905 he sent Oom Piet sky-high in a fragile balloon, turning Dutch eyes—and his own career—toward the clouds. A decade later he showed audiences exactly Ce qu’on voit (1915), proving that what we see can still surprise us. By 1931 he was declaring Waar een Wil Is, Is een Weg!, mapping celluloid roads where none existed before. Producer, director, perpetual motion machine, Mullens finally lowered his lens on 21 April 1952, leaving The Hague quieter without his whirring projectors.