For years, I have been photographing at the International Film Festival Rotterdam for Wikipedia. This year, I had the opportunity to capture Hollywood actress Victoria Pedretti, whose Wikipedia article lacked a photo in 29 language editions. This marks the third consecutive year that I could add a great photo to my portfolio:
That wasn’t always the case. The oldest IFFR photo of mine found on Wikipedia is of Chilean actress Paola Lattus, taken in 2012 with my Samsung S2. Since 2015, I have been accredited as a press photographer for the festival with the support of Wikimedia Netherlands. Below is an overview of my impact on Wikipedia:
Audio Recordings of the Stars
These are not just photos: occasionally, I also made recordings for the Wikipedia Voice Intro Project, allowing readers to hear how someone sounds and pronounces their name. The article about documentary filmmaker Mark Cousins is a good example of this. Many people will recognize him more quickly by his Northern Irish accent in my recording than by my photo, as he is usually heard as a voice-over in his work and rarely appears on screen. The most widely used piece of media is a recording of director Edmund Yeo introducing himself in his native language. In 37 language versions, it serves as the example of Malaysian Mandarin — an application I had not foreseen.
A Wikipedia photo booth at IFFR?
My dream is to stop working around the edges and instead collaborate directly with the festival to provide portraits for Wikipedia. The CineMart, where emerging filmmakers pitch their projects, would be the ideal setting. I see this as a win-win-win: Wikipedia gets high-quality images of diverse talent, IFFR gains exposure as their photo backdrop appears across Wikipedia articles, and I get more than just a credit line and expense reimbursement.
Interested in sponsoring?
Are you organizing an event with people who belong on Wikipedia? Want to help make sure they’re documented? I’m available for collaboration and sponsorship:
Footnotes
- Category:International Film Festival Rotterdam, GLAMorous; retrieved February 2025 ↩︎
