Discoveries from Netherlands World Cinema

For Felix, who has autism, hosting his own radio show is a way to try and better understand the world around him.

A stand-up comedy set by the Dutch comedian Sfeer Cuijpers, recorded live in Toomler in January 2007.

The documentary offers a unique insight into the collaborative process between the composer and the musicians, filmed from the personal perspective of someone who stands outside of contemporary music practice, but has a great fascination for this world, and in particular how his friend relates to it.

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

Mr Van Peborgh, an "artiste photographe", remained alone with his three sons Henri, Frans and Louis after the death of his wife.The household is done by the maid Beth while the graceful girl Marie helps him in the store.The eldest son Henri is engaged to Hortense and thinks he's getting married soon.Louis wants to leave for America. The big engagement party on which the whole family is present starts without worry but ends up in a disaster because "It's cruel in the world".

The widow Fien Appel, owner of a pastry shop, lives next door to café owner Camille, a widower. Camille is eager to win Fien’s hand, but she is first and foremost concerned with the future of her daughters. Her devoted servant Julleke, who cares deeply for the girls, worries that Camille won’t be able to persuade his mistress and advises him to seek a suitable wife through a marriage broker. A rendezvous is arranged at the bar “In het Paradijs,” setting the stage for unexpected twists and comedic developments.

NSB (Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging) film by Hamer - "Volksche Werkgemeenschap" (Folkish Study Group) with the Department of Public Information and Arts in 1941. Its subject is the archeological and anthropological origin of various Germanic symbols as well as their symbolic meanings. Topics discusssed include ancestral heritage, the solar wheel/sun cross, folk arts and crafts, the hakenkreuz, Germanic myth, runes such as the odal and hagal, the tree of life etc.

Orphan Danny is in hospital. He is given a very special present by Professor Vriendelijk: a homemade robot with very special powers...

Dik Trom and his friends are on vacation and having a great time. They come up with all sorts of things to do to pass the time. They go fishing, make wooden carts, shoot bows and arrows, and get up to all sorts of mischief. Even Constable Flipse is not safe from their pranks. They are having so much fun that no one, not even a bully, can spoil it. They hope that they will experience something exciting during this vacation. Suddenly, they find a haunted house. Will that be scary enough?

Scott is an emotionally damaged eighteen year old boy. After his mother dies, he starts to care for his abusive, alcoholic father. Spurred on by his girlfriend, Scott confronts him in an attempt to break the negative cycle of his roots.

Four persons travel by rail to visit a city. On arrival they take a bicycle to continue their tour and join occasionally a passing protest manifestation. The camera is never far off their trail.

From Spinoza's Ethica 82 sentences were selected without a strict coherence and re-assembled in seven components. Each component was filmed four times at least, in a different setting with different actors. Spinoza's sentences are taken as dialogues 'tout court', and not as a collection of opinions. Spinoza's style of philosophical thinking is presented as an activity in the first place, which is then revealed by each individual actor in his own way.

Milad (18), who recently moved to the city, receives a visit from his girlfriend Sali and her sister Elena on an autumn day. During an innocent walk in the park, a group of men dressed in raincoats suddenly appears on the horizon. When they send their fierce-looking dogs after the trio, Milad flees—after a wild chase—into a seemingly abandoned building. This is the beginning of an adventure of derailed reality, balancing between dream and nightmare.

A short fictional film about a boy struggling with his feelings.

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.

A poetic psychodrama about vr combining live action and animation. The film is a sequel to Metahaven’s film project “The Sprawl (Propaganda About Propaganda).” Released online at informationskies.com, it's overlaid with subtitles in different languages, and with interfacial ruins that are distinct for the online environment.

In a typical fifties diner a gangly teenager tries to rock'n'roll with the prettiest girl on the dancefloor, but is opposed by an importunate cool dude and a stammering jukebox.

Everard has twelve lifelike dolls. He talks with them, dresses them, has sex with them and loves them as if they are real people. Is he happy with this way of living or does he actually long for a real woman? My Silicone Love shows his every day life in contrast with the fantasy world in which his dolls come alive.

Why do you have to do what everyone else does and why does everyone have to look the same? Ninnoc struggles when she is in a group. She doesn't just want to adapt to the others, but she's also afraid of being excluded. Can you deviate in a group? Or will you then end up alone?

In 2002, Elena Lindemans's mother Willemien took her own life by jumping off an apartment building. She had asked for euthanasia as a way out of her unbearable mental suffering. As a mental health patient, her request was rejected on principle, leaving suicide her only way out. Elena and her family knew what Willemien was planning to do, but they didn't stop her. They decided to let her go. In the documentary Mothers don't jump off buildings, director Elena Lindemans goes looking for the residents of the apartment building who witnessed her mother's jump, and the doctors who dealt with her request for assisted suicide. She also talks to her own family for the first time about what happened on that Monday afternoon.

In this frenzied tale about passionate affairs, vicious cycles and fresh blood, a disillusioned older woman is trying to hide her true nature from the young girl she is dating.

Based on the novel by Lucas Rijneveld. Follows a 10-year-old girl living with her family on a Dutch dairy farm.

In the early spring of 1997, Theo van Gogh conducted a series of interviews with Willem Oltmans, the man who at the time loudly proclaimed that he had been obstructed by the State of the Netherlands for more than forty years—in particular Foreign Minister Luns, who called Willem Oltmans "the single-engine mosquito." For years, his lament was barely heard in the Netherlands. But around the mid-nineties, a different wind seemed to be blowing, and Oltmans gained an increasingly wider audience. For it turned out he was right; according to hundreds of secret coded telegrams, he had been obstructed for years in an extremely bizarre manner.

Performance by Eric Lee

Eighteen-year-old student Isra embarks on a final weekend trip to one of the Wadden Islands with her depressed father. She has just received the news that she will be able to move into a student room. While she feels relief, she is also anxious about sharing the news with her father and leaving him alone with his depression. She hopes to see him happy during this last weekend together, so she can move out without worrying about him. However, when Isra shares her plans, it takes them both time to grasp what this change means. Amid feelings of guilt and fear, they search for a new way to redefine their relationship. Eventually, Isra realises that letting go might be as much an act of loving, as staying.

Approximately 400 Ukrainian women are currently held captive in Russia, including civilians detained in occupied territories. The fate of many of them has remained unknown since 2014. Civilian Ukrainian prisoners are often accused of extremism and espionage. After their arrest, women are subjected to rape, humiliation, torture, and are forced to dig trenches for the Russian army. The heroines of Ekaterina Fomina's film are Ukrainian women who managed to escape captivity, as well as the daughter of an elderly woman who has been imprisoned for seven years.

Team Gaza records the lives of four young football players daring to dream in Gaza, a land strip sealed off from the outside world.

In the super8 film Watercamera a mirror reflex camera floats on the surface of the Cheongyecheon stream in Seoul and is closely followed by the filmmaker. The water is murky but rocks can be seen passing by on the bottom. Here and there fragments of trees and buildings reflect in the water, hinting towards the surrounding urban environment.

A stand-up comedy set by the Dutch comedian Hans Sibbel, recorded live in Toomler in January 2008.

Director Simonka de Jong follows sixteen-year-old Yvette from Nieuwegein in the last eighteen months of her eventful secondary school years. On the face of it, Yvette is a tough girl: she wears Lonsdale clothes, hangs around the schoolyard smoking and indifferent, and argues with her classmates, who are unable to place and simply will not accept her racism. Yvette clearly does not know what to do with herself and appears to have two faces. She can look like a hardcore Lonsdale girl, but with her hair loose and in the intimacy of the living room she is just a shy adolescent girl with her own dreams and desires.

Registration of the third theatre program by the Dutch comedian Tim Fransen.

Anne has to choose between two men, Rudmer and Murk. Rudmer seems to be a bad guy and ends up in prison. When Rudmer is sitting there, Murk, who has had his eye on Anne for a long time, tries to palm her. However, Anne does not want to know anything about him. Later it turns out that Murk stole the cattle, which Rudmer was accused of earlier. Rudmer is released and gets Anne, a happy ending.

Leo is an introverted boy who is ready for some more adventure in his life. Isaac is nothing but trouble. After an unexpected meeting Leo can't stop thinking about him. How far is Leo willing to go for Isaac?

The Dutch comedian Najib Amhali looks back on 2021. He tells how he got through the past year, how he stood his ground during the lockdown and plodded through home education.

In the Middle Ages, a group of actors travels around the country and performs the legend of the elf daughter Gwyncilla.

In a one-man stage show, cabaret performer Fabian Franciscus gets comically candid as he shares ups and downs from his life with autism and OCD.

Finnish artist Pilvi Takala has set up a fake start-up company to gain access to SLUSH, a three-day conference event and self-celebration for venture capitalists in Helsinki. A world of inflated power talks, civilised aggression and illusion, where the most important thing is that you believe in the whole thing yourself.

Ancientry is an early film by Paul de Mol. He films a vase that is on the edge of a pond in a park. While filming, Mole makes frequent use of the ‘single frame shot’ – an extremely short shot that consists of only of one frame, which is the building block of film. Occasionally the bombardment of images makes way for a longer shot, which enhances the contrast and gives the viewer a moment of rest.