In 2023, MUSEum+ acquired commemorative medals from the Ekofilm Festival for its collections, which are linked to a personal story of Dutch documentary filmmaker Jan Boon. He worked as a filmmaker at the Audiovisual Centre of the University of Groningen, and his professional interests included environmental issues, among others. In 1986, his film on animal rights was submitted to Ekofilm and Boon took home one of the awards. He received the award at the Czechoslovak Embassy in The Hague.
In 1987, however, Jan Boon went to Czechoslovakia in person to present his next film, De Waagschaal (Playing with the Future), in Ostrava. In his notes he recorded his journey by automobile from the Netherlands across the Iron Curtain to communist Czechoslovakia. He found Ostrava hospitable and praised the festival. He won the award of the Central Council of the Czechoslovak Scientific and Technical Society. After Jan Boon’s death, both awards, as well as photographic and written documentation of Boon’s participation in the festival, were donated to MUSEum+ by his adopted daughter Anneli Verhey.
