Michael Rogge

Michael Rogge (27 May 1929 – 26 January 2024), also known as IJsbrand Rogge or Ysbrand Rogge, was a Dutch photographer, videographer and amateur filmmaker, best known for his depictions of post-WW2 life in the Far East, in particular, Hong Kong and Japan.

Early life and education Rogge was born on 27 May 1929 in Amsterdam. His parents were Thea Rogge and her husband IJsbrand Rogge, a Dutch mining prospector based in Dutch Indonesia. His father was born in Indonesia in 1875 and moved to Java in 1891.

Rogge recalled viewing films on his father's home movie projector at the age of two According to Rogge, he left the Netherlands to work in the Far East in 1949.

In Japan, he joined his bank colleague Hans Brinckmann to travel the countryside during their weekends. He has been a collector of old travelogue footage. He has posted and shared these films online, providing a historical record of the locations.

Rogge's 1953 short film The Turn of the Tide is thought to be one of the first independent short films made in Hong Kong. It narrates the story of the relationship between a young fisherman boy based in Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter and his terminally ill friend. It demonstrated Rogge's abilities extending to drama.

The Hong Kong film archive has called the 200 minutes of film that Rogge shot in Hong Kong between 1949 and 1954 "an extremely valuable artifact for Hong Kong". Rogge had uploaded these films onto YouTube for preservation since 2006 until his death, gaining 533,000 subscribers as of 2025.

Filmography

Title Year Color Language Duration Location Notes Refs Washo! 1959 25 min Japan Documentary

Legacy

2008 exhibition in Tokyo

An exhibition entitled Showa Japan seen through Dutch eyes was held in Tokyo at Fujifilm Square from 29 August to 30 September 2008. This exhibition attracted 49,000 people. It portrayed how labor relations had eroded in Japan during that period, which led to political agitations causing violent demonstrations on the streets of Tokyo.

Photographic material presented in this exhibition also appeared in the book titled Showa Japan: The Post-War Golden Age and Its Troubled Legacy brought out by Brinckmann.

2014 seminar in Hong Kong

A seminar titled Michael Rogge and his Hong Kong of the 1950s was held in Hong Kong during 2014. This included an exhibition titled "Michael Rogge Retrospective" and organized into two separate sessions titled Retrospective (1) and Retrospective (2). The screenings were accompanied by live music composed by Maud Nelissen.

Death Rogge died in Amsterdam on 26 January 2024, at the age of 94.