Discoveries from Netherlands World Cinema

Five lively kids use art to escape from the Mandela Park township in Cape Town, South Africa.

This documentary tells three stories about Jewish properties stored during the Second World War, their Jewish owners and their non-Jewish custodians.

Pushed to their limit, the Manta Rays rise up against Man to take control of the Earth; it is the dawning of a new Manta Ray Era and the “flattening” of Mankind.

The former KGB archive in Kyiv was made public in 2017, allowing Ukrainians to view their personal dossiers from the Soviet era for the first time. For many older citizens, it was an opportunity to get answers to questions that had been haunting them for decades.

What is 'a mother' really? Does Google provide an unequivocal answer? Wikipedia? Friends perhaps? The latter call it 'coming home' or 'someone who’s always there for you'. Now that his sister, twenty-five years after their own mother passed, is expecting her first child, filmmaker Wieke Kapteijns decides to examine the 'mother' concept. For the first time in his life, he has to venture into unknown territory and face up to long-suppressed grief

The greatest of the greatest, that's what Abraham Tuschinski wanted. Not necessarily for himself, but for his audience. From Poland, where he was born in 1886, he ended up in Rotterdam. He opened a cinema there, the first in the city with a chic look. More followed, built in the gaudy, eclectic 'Tuschinski style', with Theater Tuschinski in Amsterdam as the jewel in the crown of the film king of the Netherlands. Director Ger Poppelaars places the life story of the perfectionist showman Tuschinski in his time. He reconstructs the successful total performances in the cinema with acts and orchestra, everything taken care of down to the last detail.

It is 1915 Mexico, two sisters, remain hidden in their father’s hacienda

Footage of a sunny village square in Sardinia leads to humorous, philosophical reflections on reality and the role of the ‘objectively recording’ documentary maker. Van Gasteren sees the square as a backdrop in his film, and the chance passers-by as extras. Then, as a ‘director of reality’, he gives an ironic commentary on what he sees. “For a moment I thought, from what source of information am I thinking up what I see. Or, did I just see exactly what I thought.”

The past and present weave themselves together through documentation of family moments in and around the Netherlands. A translation of attachment and dislocation on what home means in regards to emigration and memory from one generation to the next.

We live in a binary society, and this documentary shows that all too well. What if you do not feel comfortable as man or woman? Which box do you fit into then, and should you even want that? In 9 different interviews, you get a better idea of what it is like to feel misunderstood in our society.

Several objects are coming together in this short animated movie, like a cat, an ashtray, a diver, a tractor, a plane, a dog and a Big Mac.

Short Dutch animation film.

Colourful, unpolished portrait of the Rotterdam theatre-maker Paul Röttger, whose work has been all about inclusivity for 30 years. The thread running through the film is rehearsals by Theater Babel Rotterdam, the theatre company of which he is director, that performs some 150 productions a year. Röttger previously headed the Rotterdams Centrum voor Theater and Theater Maatwerk (Rotterdam Centre for Theater and Custom-made Theatre). The documentary shows his ongoing search for equal artistic collaboration between people from a wide variety of genders, cultural backgrounds, physical and mental conditions, and professionalism.

Zandvoort transformed from a fishermen's village into a seaside resort and home of the Dutch grand prix. In the late 20th century it became a village in decay. But now a radical transition is looming: the Formula 1 mega circus will return to the village. Zandvoort will become world famous. How are the citizens of the village preparing for this event that vanishes everything. Is there still room for a critical view or is euphoria the only touchstone?

Made in Amsterdam in 2011. You see the image of an Urban Landscape. The camera work is taken in one shot from a static position, the moving parts of the film are the clouds, the smoke, the birds and the moving trees in the wind. The smoke clouds are from of the coal-fired power station Hemweg Centrale. It is closed since the end of december in 2019. The narration is from Defoe's "The Life and Strange Surprsing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe", written in 1719. The text is an excerpt from page 47: (..) We knew nothing where we were, or what country were we driven to, be it an island or the main, inhabited or uninhabited (..) The film is made from a visionary view of the landscape that has changed over time. And not knowing where we have ended up in this world. Clouds are formed by smoke, we can no longer tell the difference. The film touches on subjects such as the makeable world, time, change, industrialization, the ignorance of humans and the preservation of nature.

On December 28, 1982, André Hazes enters the stage of the Royal Concertgebouw, a hall normally reserved for classical music. Hazes reached superstar status a year earlier with the album Simply André, which takes first place in the album chart and the hits 'A little love', 'Say nothing more', 'No streamers on the wall for me', 'It last round' and 'She believes in me'.

The documentary ‘Together’ or ‘Samen’ in Dutch, tells the story of Sam. Sam was the best friend of Tyson who is also the director. Two years ago Sam passed away at the age of twenty. This moving film portrays the grieving processes of five young adults after they abruptly lost one of their best friends. With story directors Rosanne Gjaltema and Tyson Malaihollo want to break taboos surrounding suicide and emphasize the importance of mental health.

Two girls and a boy make a road trip to the woods, where they set up camp and spend the night. A speechless paean to slowness, quiet and intimacy. It remains unclear whether the film is improvised or not. The story reads like a page from a diary, about an empty day, that could have taken place any time.

Several versions of Mol's film "From the Realm of the Crystals" exist; In the film, the crystallization processes of various chemicals are shown. This is a shorter, colour version of the film which was made ​​using Dufay colour.

The first film to be made directly by and in the name of a gay organisation, the Dutch gay rights movement COC.

A look into the everyday hardships of dogs' lives.

When a girl comes home at night, she finds a picture on her phone of herself sleeping…

Part of the 'Giant Postcards' series, a filmed entr'acte screened during the play 'De Nieuwe Prikkel' by August Reyding. Camilla and Roland take the pont across the IJ to go to the Tolhuis amusement park.

Carriages carrying Queen Wilhelmina arrive in Amsterdam

Tracking shot across a bay showing a large number of fishing boats.

A young ambitious screenwriter struggles with keeping his sanity as he tries to overcome his writers-block.

Dutch Comedian Maarten is at it again for the 2013 Year Review - his last one.

Documentary about about a 94 year-old grandma and her grandson who go on an adventure to Luxembourg.

Chain of pictures and moving images about the origination of the annual Yser pilgrimage from 1920 to 1929.

Their last Dutch theatre program

A Chinese girl must become a warrior to fight a war and to save her village by convincing a dragon to melt the snows. She must overcome the trials of the four elements, with the help of a medallion and some magical friends.

Widower Amir searches for memories of his wife. Diving into the past, he forgets he also has responsibilities towards his young daughter.

The first solo program by Brigitte Kaandorp. Originally broadcast as a TV Special, including the theatre performance varied with an interview at her home.

Wentelteefje is a poetic narrative about two people who are addicted to one another. They are stuck in a vicious circle of hatred and love. They make each others blood boil, but the blood flows simultaneously to the heart. The story shows how a duality of love and pain leads to powerless paralysis.

Annegien is only sixteen years old, but already has more than 672.000 followers on Instagram. Her photo edits are checked by followers all around the world. When a commercial company approaches her to make money, she's in doubt.

Through Craigslist, an internationally active internet network, performance artist Samira Elagoz arranges one-on-one meetings in three cities with a wide variety of men, and explores how the camera influences intimacy between two strangers: the documentarian and the subject. The set up is simple: she brings a camera and films how they get to know each other. Every encounter is real and unscripted. Weaving her own presence in and out of the various scenes, she becomes part of the narrative.

In his special 'V', Weijers jokes about power, relationships, religion, travel and happiness at a breakneck pace. The comedian asks his audience which five people they would invite for an ultimate dinner. Fast, sharp and honest. The mirror he holds up has never been so painfully funny.

Landscapes, cities and people pass by in a small pile of postcards.