Coen Verbraak

For thirty years she was the undisputed queen of the Dutch talk show: Sonja Barend. With Coen Verbraak, she takes one last look back: at her motivations, the history of her family, and her father.

On February 29 – Leap Day – we celebrate Sonja Barend's birthday. She turns eighty then. She made countless programs, and when you watch them back, you can sense the spirit of the times. Sonja was the Netherlands' first true talk show host. She dared to ask anything, was critical, broke taboos, and had an opinion. In the night of Saturday, February 29 to March 1, we pay tribute to her. Dutch presenters will talk for an hour about what Sonja meant to them and to the Dutch television landscape.

For centuries, they have been stared at by millions of eyes: the painted figures in Rembrandt van Rijn's Night Watch. What do they actually think? How did they feel about posing for the painter? And are they satisfied with the canvas?

Documentary by Coen Verbraak about entertainer, poet, and painter Toon Hermans.

In this three-part documentary series, Coen Verbraak looks back on the events of that time with the Dutchbat soldiers involved.

In 'Our boys on Java', the four-part series that journalist and historian Coen Verbraak made for BNNVARA, fourteen of them still tell their stories. Including Joop Hueting, who in 1969 was the first to report war crimes committed by the Dutch. It was the last interview with Hueting; he passed away in November 2018.