Discoveries from Netherlands World Cinema

Naomi has a secret. She rarely sees her mother because the latter lives in a psychiatric hospital. She wants Sam, her best friend, to finally meet her mother.

The lonely life of a bridge operator is disrupted when he falls in love.

Super 8mm color stop motion animated film about the chaos and lifestyle of Amsterdammers, set to the music of Hilary Jeffery.

Tracklist DVD: 1. Ik wil dat ons land juicht 2. ik tel tot drie 3. Niemand 4. Het is een nacht 5. Te lang 6. Als de liefde 7. Hé zon 8. Mooi 9. Wees maar niet bang 10. Jimmy 11. Toen ik je zag 12. Als je ooit 13. Op straat 14. Stadionmedley 15. Geef mij je angst 16. Bloemen 17. Jouw hand ( met Jack Poels ) 18. Rowwen Heze- Bestel Mar 19. Rowwen Heze- Kwestie 20. De neus omhoeg 21. Zo ver weg 22. Mag ik dansen 23. Verliefd Zijn 24. Ik wil je 25. Per spoor 26. Brabant 27. Bondgenoot 28. Ik wil dat ons land juicht 29. 'T dondert en 't bliksem. Taal: Nederlands

A Report on life and work aboard hospital ship ‘De Hoop’, traveling to Lerwick (one of the Shetland Islands, Scotland). Eyefilmmuseum

A short introduction to a filmmaker who shows his daily life and interests through fast, playful editing.

The Art of Being Free follows a moving conversation between Dutch TV icon Paul Haenen (77) and writer Lale Gül (27), who connect over their shared fight for personal and artistic freedom. Inspired by each other's books, they reflect on themes of identity, religion, family, autonomy, and being role models. Haenen, openly gay since 1964, and Gül, who challenged conservative Islam in 2021, explore what it means—and costs—to live freely. Directed by Hester Overmars, this tender and timely documentary is a powerful dialogue on courage, expression, and the human need for authenticity.

In Lacuna, we follow Sonja, who has always known that the people she grew up with are not her biological parents. However, she is haunted by the absence of a pivotal memory from her childhood. This immersive journey invites you to explore a multiverse of fragmented memories alongside Sonja as she seeks to uncover what was lost.

A girl tells about all the different sounds in her household.

In the medical literature, a good death is a death that respects the privacy and sensitivity of the individual, where emotional, spiritual and religious needs and wishes are met, and where there is enough time to say goodbye. Founded in 2007, the Wish Ambulance Foundation continues to work to ensure that terminal patients with limited time can say goodbye to life in a “good” way. Today, the foundation fulfills the last wishes of people of all ages with limited time to live. Frank Halter, a retired policeman who work as a volunteer for the foundation, has been part of this voluntary work for 6 years. The Good Death focuses on the last wishes of Wim Beuving, a terminally ill man with limited time left, and his meeting with Frank Halter, who volunteers to make these wishes come true.

Harrie Vermeulen lives with his successful yet naive son. The arrogant secretary of his son wants him gone and tries to match him with an older lady. Harrie doesn't take this lying down and has a better woman in mind for his son. He devises a plan with his friend to make the secretary make mistakes and find a suitable daughter-in-law at the same time. However, this doesn't go without obstacles, especially because the son also has his say!

Four (soon to be) transgender parents share their personal stories of what carrying their future children as transgender males is like.

After a stroke, the Amsterdam artist Aat Veldhoen is not able to use his right drawing hand anymore. Because of his natural urge to draw he starts using his left hand to depict the people around him during rehabilitation. His wife, the feminist and politician Hedy d'Ancona, shows his drawings and talks with admiration about the sketches he made.

Kees Hin’s acclaimed depiction of Berlin in the 1930s. On the basis of recollections recorded on video, Kees Hin and K. Schippers created a ‘theatre of memory’ where former residents of Berlin look back on the downfall of that bustling metropolis and the rise of Nazism, which led to them fleeing.

Melodrama about two brothers who are in love with the same woman.

Four people partake in a project aimed to mitigate the shortage of staff for elderly care.

Inas Halabi reflects upon the particular political and social condition of the Druze community living in occupied Palestine, taking individual and personal stories as a point of departure. It begins with an ascent of Mount Carmel upon which the Druze towns of Dalyet el Carmel and Isfiya are located, drawing the viewer into a world of geographic isolation and a locale shaped by coercion and control. Living mostly in mountainous areas in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine/Israel, as well as in diaspora globally, the Druze maintain close-knit social and religious ties as a minority within and across national borders.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, internet and media artist Constant Dullaart built his own platform as a response to existing social media. It’s a place where you can genuinely get together with friends, rather than just being a target for clickbait or competing with others for likes and comments.

A video essay about the rehearsal process of the dance performance Mozart / Concert Arias, un moto di gioia, a choreography by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Rosas, which premiered at the Festival d’Avignon in July 1992.

In her film, the director juxtaposes Lithuanian mythology on household deities and the current situation in the Netherlands, where the housing crisis has pushed people to live in camping vans. The stories of the inhabitants of the camping village about their destinies and life philosophies, contrasting with the footage of their vans, are a testimony of the effects of late capitalism on everyday life, from which the old deities have been disappearing.

Director Ramy Moharam Fouad followed Brussels based rapper Zwangere Guy around on his 2019 tour.

Two teenagers fall in love, but they’re from two different worlds with very opposite family backgrounds. Remy is intrigued by Juliyat. She’s cool and clever thanks to an eventful and challenging life. Juliyat likes Remy because he’s full of brightness and spontaneity. But being in love in hostile surroundings is no easy task. Desperately, the teenagers try to get together in public and then secretly. Remy and Juliyat is a modern day Romeo and Juliet. A story about loyalty, betrayal and the ability to see potential in everyone. A heart-warming and youth-driven drama where love conquers all in the end.

With the world changing faster than ever, comedian Peter Pannekoek shares his thoughts about power, evolving gender relations and the times ahead.

Eleven-year-old Anne is a beautiful girl. The kind of girl you can’t take your eyes off. And the longer you look, the more you see her ‘tics’. Anne suffers from Gilles de la Tourette’s syndrome. This makes her body do things she doesn’t want, such as suddenly spinning around or licking everything. Anne sometimes finds it hard to cope with her illness, especially in school. She’s afraid that others will bully her or laugh at her. Anne therefore tries to keep her tics in check, although that isn’t easy. She prefers ‘flying’ through life, so you won’t notice anything. When flying, she’s at her best. The youth documentary FLYING ANNE shows how Anne lives life with her tics. Tics that, in the end, she doesn’t want to lose either...

In a hybrid film, both documentary and fiction, five young women describe the feeling of grief when losing a parent at a young age. Anna returns to her father's home, a year after his death. In one weekend, she lives through a storm of emotions as these may come and go in the process of grief.

Are you ready to join Dirk Scheele on his journey? The children's hero experiences all kinds of cheerful and musical adventures in his first cinema film. With familiar and new songs. Dirk turns everything into a musical party. He visits a real king and queen in a palace and goes horse riding for the very first time. He plays pranks and turns the whole vegetable shop upside down with the Broccolirock. But where is his good friend Japie the Aapie? Dirk goes looking for him in the jungle. A parrot, a snake, and a tiger help him, of course. With guest appearances by Anky van Grunsven, Mylène & Rosanne, Peter Lusse, Joes Boonen, and others.

Hélène, a struggling young actress, is trying to learn the text of the 'Lady From the Sea' by heart. At the same time she is emptying her grandmother’s apartment. The apartment, situated near the beach, becomes a place to escape in thoughts and dreams.

Max, Emre, Jash, David and Hilson. Five friends from school, all born in the Netherlands, but each with different origins; Turkish, Surinamese, Syrian, Chinese and Dutch. For the close-knit group of friends, these differences do not matter, their daily environment is the same. They live at Heijplaat, a working-class district hidden in the immense port area of Rotterdam, literally between the sea containers and the huge ships. Here they spend all their free time. There is not much to do and this makes their friendship extra important.

A documentary on the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam.

While his depressed mother has been lying on the couch for some time and his father has disappeared, a clever boy of almost nine builds a time machine. In the voice-over, Markus tells what he has learned about time travel. He takes the viewer along to the past and the future, and what would you know? It is all far less complicated than you think, and at the same time much less is possible than you would like to. To be honest, after a while it is mainly boring, the precocious kid explains. But who is he actually talking to all this time?

A young lover surprises his girlfriend with a stay in a hotel. Shit hits the fan.

Journalist Fatima Jebli Ouazzani wonders whether she made the right decision in rejecting traditional Moroccan marriage.

In the village, Ben and Jelle hand out flyers for a five-day trip to Egypt. Commissioner Migrain and Grandpa and Grandma Fonkel are also there. Grandpa Fonkel doesn't like the idea of traveling with Migrain at all, but eventually gives in. Mieke stays behind at the police station with Toby. She doesn't trust the trip and warns Migrain, but he doesn't want to hear it. What if Mieke is right... Time for Mega Mindy to investigate.

Atmospheric images of Vlissingen.

NSB propaganda film about the Agrarian Youth National Day in which Roskam delivers a speech to the audience and in which a choir performs. The film was made in collaboration with the Agrarian Front.

NSB propaganda film about Mussert's visit to Berlin. He enters the NSB house and gives a speech there. The audience applauds.