Amsterdam is one of the last bastions of avant garde art. The theatres, clubs and concert halls of Europe's most culturally open city have often proved a welcome haven to artists from abroad. And it was in Amsterdam that one of Britain's most exciting young composers Steve Martland developed his own talents under the guidance of Holland's most highly regarded composer Louis Andriessen.

Andriessen is becoming an increasingly well known figure, with performances of his dynamic and rhythmically inventive works all over the world. Television viewers will know his music from his award-winning collaboration with movie director Peter Greenaway in the BBC-2 series 'Not Mozart'.

This film about Andriessen, written and co-directed by Martland, is a highly personal reflection, not only on Andriessen's artistic personality but also on the world in which he lives and works.

Co-director Peter West describes the film as "a montage of fragments, and visual comments which reflect the composer's own labyrinthine musical mind. Just as his music comments on itself and other artistic worlds, so this film draws on painting, theatre, literature and historical archive to create a documentary which holds a mirror up to itself."