[2] Also in the early 1930s he was active in the Netherlands as a member of the Filmliga, a Dutch cinema club (1927–1933) founded by Menno ter Braak and Henrik Scholte, and as the chairman of the Association for Educational and Development Films;[6] with the Amsterdam Liga he ran the De Uitkijk Theatre.

[11] In 1938 Franken directed the semi-documentary film Tanah Sabrang, based on the writings of Adrian Jonkers and promoting emigration from Java to Sumatra.

[2] After the war, Franken returned to the Indies – since proclaimed an independent nation named Indonesia – to make films for the Netherlands Government Information Service (Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst).

[1][2] On Franken's death, an obituary in De Telegraaf stated that he was a pioneering documentary filmmaker for the Netherlands and one of the country's few avant-garde creative professionals.

[3] The film historian Peter Cowie writes that Franken was underrated and "a true pioneer and a very real pillar of the documentary achievement usually credited solely to Joris Ivens".