Staatssteenkoolmijnenbedrijf, Heerlen

Director: Otto van Neijenhoff | Production Country: Netherlands | Year: 1927 | Production Company: IWA - Industrie, Wetenschap, Actualiteit (Den Haag) | Film from the collection of EYE (Amsterdam) - www.eyefilm.nl/en
Documentary about the Staatsmijnen (state mines) in Limburg.
"I promise you that we worked a whole day on our knees, squatting, on sharp stones and coal, from 8 in the morning until 6 in the evening; we came back up with bent knees, after first having traversed the 2.5 kilometre road, and descending 60 meters down a narrow ladder and stumbling through the mud, to reach the shaft. Then the obligatory bath for everyone, which completely transforms you from a black back to a white”.
Although filming for the State Mines was a major test for Otto van Neijenhoff, this assignment gave him the chance to showcase his talents. Until that point, he had mainly made corporate films that had to be produced as cheaply and quickly as possible. The State Mines company allowed Van Neijenhoff to spend an entire month working on their anniversary film, and he also got permission to film underground.
The film schematically shows how coal is mined and processed. Noteworthy are the images of the miners at work. A graph shows the quantities of coal that are mined. We see footage shot at the Wihelmina, Emma, Hendrik, and Maurits mines. "
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