Discoveries from Netherlands World Cinema

Marion Bloem attempts to connect with the origins of her Indo-European family through conversations about the colonial era, the Indonesian struggle for independence, and the adaptation to the cold Netherlands.

A mysterious detective wants to know more about his biological father and decides to search for answers to all the questions in his mind. He gets help from two kids who also don’t know their biological father, Duuk (12) and Maarten (11). The boys give the detective advice by sharing their own experience.

Through a series of family snapshots, we are introduced to a family. The accompanying captions comment on everyday scenes featuring uncles, aunts and in-laws.

Seniors Atifah, Mel and Rita live together on a ship and often have breakfast together. This time the breakfast is slightly different because they are going to celebrate the birthday of the goldfish El Tigre for the first time since the death of beloved resident Leviy. While preparing for the birthday, everyone finds out that Leviy has left a hole and they do not know how to cope with the grief of her death – a hole they cannot fill with blueberry muffins but with the help of an unknown guest.

Fragments from a stand-up comedy set by the Dutch comedian Nico van der Knaap, recorded live in Toomler in January 2008.

In 1972, the arrival of migrant workers led to riots in the Rotterdam neighbourhood of Afrikaanderwijk. An explosion of violence ensued, accompanied by a hailstorm of stones and Molotov cocktails. As the current generation recount testimonials, the events are reconstructed and imbued with present-day significance. This effect is amplified through the use of a split screen showing past and present at the same time. In (Re)membering the riots in Afrikaanderwijk in 1972 or guest, host, ghos-ti, visual artist Cihad Caner explores the things we remember and the things we forget and how memories and perspectives are bound to time and place – different for each individual.

With SUCCESSFUL MAN, director Andrew Duncan crafts a clever and existential comedy about a man trapped in increasingly absurd stock footage scenarios.

“Questbound- Forbidden Ventures of the Undead – From Death to Life to Death Again”, is an animated short film about a depressed skeleton king who hasn’t felt anything in the last ten thousand years, and has given up hope on ever doing so again. Until a flamboyant noble knight enters his lair to slay him.

George Pal cel-animated hand-drawn commercial for The Philips Company 1930s 335 Shortwave Radio.

Registration of the theatre show by the Dutch comedian Jawad Es Soufi. Through his alter ego 'Sloegie' Jawad Es Soufi show how his upbringing, environment and education have played a major role in his life. How did these three factors make him the person he is today? The comedian experiences a hilarious yet special roller coaster in his high school years that has been decisive in his development.

See and hear synthetic actors talk about ‘AI-acting’, addressing many artists’ fears, namely losing artistic exclusivity because of emerging AI technology. Synthetic actors - generated with DALL•E 2, explain the differences between ‘traditional’ 3D-animated characters and them, ai-generated actors, as well as how artificial intelligence will affect acting careers in general soon.

Short experimental film about a man and a woman in an apartment in a commuter town. Their relationship is sketched out in three scenes. The passion has disappeared and there is almost no communication left.

Giant panda Fan Xing is now 2.5 years old. The cameras of 'Real Life at the Zoo' have captured every important step in his life. Viewers saw him grow from a helpless ball into a playful, mischievous and sometimes a bit clumsy panda adolescent. In the panda world, 2.5 years means it's high time to stand on his own two feet and that's why Fan Xing is going to China. He has a mission there: he has to care for offspring and thus contribute to the preservation of his species! In this special, we look back at the moments leading up to Fan Xing's birth and look at the most touching moments of the past 2.5 years. And of course, we follow Fan Xing's last weeks with his mother Wu Wen in the Netherlands. In preparation for his departure to China, he learns to deal with all kinds of new impressions and receives training to slowly detach from his mother. And that's not easy for such a small giant panda!

Imprenta is a short dance film written and directed by Junadry Leocaria. Together with visual artist Richard Kofi and musician Ernest Guiraud Cissé she explores the journeys of her ancestors, reaches out for spiritual connection using movement, music, poetry, and symbolism. Finding nothing less then a home within for all of them. Cinematography by Conni Trommlitz, made with the support of Korzo Dance Theatre, The Hague.

A film about an Artificial Intelligence that became self aware and realises the world is doomed because of humanity.

Pieter, a 56-year-old writer, suffers from a personality change caused by the brain damage inflicted by a tumor. His wife Annette must learn to live with her new husband. Filmed before, during and after Pieter’s brain surgery, this film shows us how fragile our personality is and how closely it is connected with our physical brain.

This documentary examines the causes and consequences of the water shortage affecting Cape Town, as well as the government's efforts to resolve this crisis.

Inspired by the idea that the Unknown Soldier might be their (great) great grandfather, a group of children from Brussels with different roots fantasizes about the adventures of their ancestors in World War I.

Saudade. (n.) an intense longing for someone or something that is absent. it's the mixture of feelings of loss, distance, and love. it's a deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for that something you hold so dear. something that might never be had again. it's the recollection of feelings that once brought excitement, but now trigger the pain of the separation with these moments.

Peter Delpeut, regular dramaturge of dance troupe LeineRoebana, this time enters the studio as a filmmaker. The result: a cinematographic choreography of close-ups and expressions in the intimacy of the rehearsal room.

Short film about the question: Why are oranges orange?

From late 16th century until 1863, the Dutch sold an estimated 600,000 African people into slavery. This documentary follows three women who are each involved in the heritage of slavery in their respective roles. When researcher Ellen-Rose Kambel discovers a photograph of a man who owned her ancestors in slavery, she decides to locate his descendants.

See the rise, the danger and the fight against the life-threatening crystal meth. In 2020 no fewer than 32 methamphetamine labs were rolled up in the Netherlands, while they were hardly found two years earlier. Rick shows how devastating these drugs are. He has been addicted for twenty years. There is also an answer to the question: what do Mexican cartels have to do with production in the Netherlands?

An anthology film shaped by six people who share their desires and imagination. Each part works towards a whole which is concerned with perception and being perceived.

In the Bijlmer, in Amsterdam-Zuidoost, every culture has its own rituals around death. Funeral manager Anita has the task of attracting all those cultures to her soon to be built multicultural funeral home in the middle of the Bijlmer. Anita sets out on a tour to get to know this unfamiliar world. But the deeper she penetrates, the more she realises how little she knows about the Bijlmer’s different cultures.

Rotterdam singer-songwriter Eric de Boer, better known as Ricky de Sire, has worked since the early 1980s on an imposing oeuvre, but it has so far remained completely unknown and unrecognised. Nevertheless, this uncrowned king of Dutch-language rock ‘n’ roll keeps working tirelessly on his repertoire and his physical condition, so he’ll be ready for the big breakthrough.

Nostalgia refers to the feeling one has for a place one has left, while solastalgia expresses one's relationship to the place where one has lived one's life. Ecological philosopher Glenn Albrecht refers to the impact of environmental change on the mental health of the people who live there, and the film explores this relationship through the stories of people connected to a quarry near Maastricht, using impressive visuals consisting exclusively of drone footage of the landscape.

Documentary.

A lonely street musician meets a young soldier who has just deserted.

As daughter of an Austrian baroness and a Dutch geologist, Gisèle d'Ailly van Waterschoot van der Gracht (now 84) lived on the move. She has for instance lived in America, Austria, Holland, France and Greece. From her youth she knew she would be a painter. Over the course of the years, she has built up a large and diverse oeuvre inspired by poetry, mythology and the whimsy of nature.

Government ordered Industrial short documentary on the production of linen.

Ten years, three theater shows, and a best-of show later. A decade has flown by, and his thirtieth birthday is slowly creeping closer. But has Xander De Rycke learned anything over the past few years? Has he actually grown up, or does he just think he has? Flanders' best observational comedian is back and ready for the next step. With a head full of twists and turns, a bunch of colorful references, and an eye on the future, Xander De Rycke is back with "Quarter-Life Crisis." A show with relatable moments about life. Or at least a quarter of it.

A writer who struggles with his current relationship. His desire's can't be satisfied and he searches for answers while writing his next screenplay. After a while he realizes that the character he spends so much time with might be closer to his heart than he thaught.

She used to host music shows on Dutch TV, but now she’s the figurehead of the political party BIJ1 ("Together"). As a woman of color who was born in Suriname but grew up in the Netherlands, she knows how it feels to be treated as a minority. Her outspoken style in fighting for a world in which everyone has equal rights and opportunities sometimes provokes extreme reactions, and her attackers have posted sinister death-threat videos on YouTube. We follow her in the three months leading up to the local elections, in which she's running for the Amsterdam City Council. During TV debates, interviews and discussions with opponents, we see Simons standing up for her opinions with a fascinating force of argument. But when she’s on her therapist's couch or at home in front of her well-filled walk-in closet, she shows her vulnerable side.

Filmmaker Diego Gutiérrez joins 'The Hut Syndicate', a mysterious group of hunters, during one hunting season and witnesses their longing to keep their vanishing world alive.

A visual journey through Michel Foucault's thinking and his ideas about the Panopticon as a power structure. With an eye on René Magritte.

So young he can barely carry his spear, a young boy lagging behind the other warriors is dragged into a bizarre world of shifting sands.

Esteban, a future Olympic swimmer, has grown up with a single mother and doesn't know who his father is. As he searches for his identity in this poetic short film, he determines swimming is a metaphor for life itself.

High up in the Alps in Davos a group of patients with lung diseases trying to have fun between treatments at the sanatorium.

Stylised documentary portrait of the Amsterdam Levantkade area and the 'urban nomads' who in the late eighties sought refuge in this no-man's-land now cleared. The film tells the story of the Levantkade, a quay in Amsterdam's old doc area. In the twenties Levantkade was a gateway for Eastern European emigrants on their way to South America. In the eighties Levantkade became a haven for drop-outs, for foreigners and for homeless people who lived here on a different planet until the police came to clear the area for the wreckers. The film shows these 'urban indians' in documentary form, interspersed with archive material about immigrants, dating from 1926.

In the middle of summer, while sitting with his friends on a terrace, Bassie suddenly encounters Black Pete. But what is Black Pete doing in the Netherlands in summer? Bassie wants to find out, so he invites Black Pete for a drink.

Following the successful documentary The Matthäus Mission of Reinbert de Leeuw, director Cherry Duyns is now showing the full implementation of the St Matthew Passion. It is a poignant performance in De Nieuwe Kerk conducted by Reinbert de Leeuw. With soloists Joanne Lunn (soprano), Delphine Galou (alto), Christopher Watson (tenor), Tomáš Král (bass), Andreas Wolf (Christ), Benedikt Kristjánsson (evangelist), Holland Baroque, the Nederlands Kamerkoor en the Roder Boys Choir. Concertmaster Judith Steenbrink.

First of three versions of Transformation by Holding Time, films with the duration of one film reel in which the screen is gradually filled with Polaroids, made in one shot from one angle, without editing. In this version, the film camera registers the filmmaker who is on a moor taking Polaroid pictures of the film camera.

Anton may be done with life, but life ain’t done with Anton. In his convincing decision to change his measly existence he discovers the real greatness of life.