Eva Besnyö - The Choice Collection dir: Leo Erken DOCUMENTARY Art / History For three years, photographer Leo Erken filmed his colleague Eva Besnyö, 54 years his senior. The Hungarian-born Dutch photographer is now 92 years old and despite her age maintains a sharp and clear mind. She walks around like a living legend and is cheered as if she were a pop star. Her photos win the most prestigious awards. Everywhere she goes, people want to talk to her. She is always the center of attention. Her status in the Dutch art and photography world is enormous. The film recounts her career and shows the process by which she takes a distance from her life’s work. She wants to (and is still able to) determine what will remain for future generations. By selectively saving some photos and throwing others away, she makes an effort to determine her own oeuvre, thereby creating a lasting survey of her work. Her last savings are designated for printing from negatives that no longer have (decent) prints. The "choice collection," her selection of the 200 most beautiful photos that she gathered together two decades ago, is now being debated. Experts such as fellow photographer and biographer Willem Diepraam put the pressure on to choose from her pre-war work and to minimize her later photographs. Adriaan Elligens, director of the Maria Austria Institute and charged with managing her archive, has his own preferences and plans for her work altogether. Eva Besnyö demands a lot from herself and those around her and makes a lasting impression with her intelligent, sharp, courageous and completely original attitude to life.