Discoveries from Netherlands World Cinema

When job-seekers Bas and Simone arrive at a strange office building to apply for a senior management position, they end up in a game set up by recruiter Ruben, who assigns them increasingly bizarre tasks they are morally and emotionally unprepared for.

In this short documentary Netherlands filmmaker Lara Verheijden stages an insight into her childhood friend Coco's life at home. At the beginning of the documentary Coco is due to give birth in a week. Over the course of this week, filmmaker and friend dismantle the old ideas of pregnancy's traditional joys and look to individualize the/a mother's experience.

A photographer's simple quest to capture a bird in flight turns into an unexpected journey of discovery, as she learns to pause, observe, and connect with the life unfolding around her.

Mark’s relationship is stuck in a rut—or rather, a loop. After spending a ridiculous amount of money on a model train, he avoids confrontation with his girlfriend, Anna. But the more he runs from the issue, the more reality pushes back—trapping him in a time loop that won’t break until they finally face the truth together.

Poignant portrait exploring the experiences of people waiting for gender-affirming care in the Netherlands.

Aza, the hardened daughter of a crime lord, and Max, a disillusioned thief desperate to leave the business, are tasked with retrieving a mysterious item. As they navigate a world of mercenary soldiers, hidden agendas, and a looming shadow organization, their fractured past and lingering connection threaten to unravel. Meanwhile, an agent known only as the Huntswoman fights to hold onto her mission—and her sanity—after a failed operation leaves her partner incapacitated. As the game of cat and mouse escalates, a severed hand, a locked safe, and a hallucinatory pink scarf become cryptic threads in a deadly web of intrigue. Blurring the line between noir thriller and psychological horror, Cling Film is a haunting meditation on fate, guilt, and the choices that define who we are.

After Dekking Hoog and Nederlands Hoop, Rotterdam cabaret artist and stand-up comedian Patrick Laureij will once again be LIVE. LIVE for us. Finally again. Nicely running away with the world, with us, with himself. In any case, honest as hell, merciless and hilarious, because that is what Laureij is known for.

Video (16'27") 1987

This meditative exploration of vision – both literal and metaphorical – finds symbolic ways to convey the traumatic loss of Shannon Liang’s then-partner. The film opens with unflinching footage of Liang’s own laser eye surgery, which leaves her with a persistent ‘halo’ distortion in her left eye. In this sensitive short film about the transformative power of grief, the ‘halo’ becomes both a symbol of impaired vision and an enigmatic marker of loss, subtly shifting the way we perceive the world around us.

In En passant the setting is a public chessboard in the library of Rotterdam Blaak. Many colorful characters are featured. They worry about a game of chess, about rules, about winning and losing, but also about the small and big everyday things. Because in the end this is not about chess at all; it's about being together. People are herd animals. They cannot live without each other and always seek each other out.

Chance Meetings 1: In these short silent films (each is about 30 seconds long), chance encounters play the central role. In a fixed and immobile frame, two men meet. This does not result in any actual contact; the two men only look at each other. This almost pedestrian and intriguing phenomenon repeatedly unfolds without giving away its mystery. Chance Meetings 2: In these short film loops (each about 1 minute long), the ‘gaze’ is key; in a repetitive motion, the viewer is confronted with the gaze of ‘the other’. In a series of concatenated images, this gaze quickly takes on an almost provocative character. This sometimes evokes feelings of confrontation, as if the viewer is actually being addressed.

Recurring memories.

In a village consumed by adult responsibilities, a child yearns for play and fun. However, unintentionally, his innocent play sparks a war within the village, escalating from simple playfulness to destructive conflict.

'Travail' is a meditation on the erosion of collective consciousness in the shadow of modernity. It unfolds as a journey through dissonance, where the remnants of lost revolutions linger like ghosts in the periphery. It is about the subtle decay of hope, the quiet rebellion in the heart of despair, and the elusive spark of revolution buried beneath the surface

Stop-motion animation interrogates images in a book on Israeli state formation, questioning what lies beyond the image.

Martijn is in the tree.

Our alien overlords are not as competent as we thought.

Part of a series of found landscapes, filmed on a single 8mm roll.

Short film by Khattar Shaheen.

Through the lens of LUKi's unwavering resilience, the story of his battle against ALS transforms into a testament to the human (and robotic) spirit's ability to find light even in the darkest of times. With every choice he makes, every smile he shares, and every second he cherishes, LUKi paints a vivid portrait of what it means to truly live, even as the sands of time slip through his grasp.

A group of actors from the diaspora walks toward their refuge wearing their food and culture. A challenging walk full of obstacles. Exodus happens forcibly. Exodus happens near the invisible. Exodus happens when the masses migrate. Trends happen when the masses adopt an observed fashion. But what happens when the fashion walk is unattended?

Documentary by Hans Polak about the residents of the Ducdalfstraat in Scheveningen.

Sheep herder Roelof Kuipers has a dream: starting an 'experience farm'. But how does he envision all this? It starts with a flock of sheep, a public toilet, a turkey and a look in the attic.

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.

First batch of a video collage series, about various topics such as feminism, pop culture and memories.

Beep (Piep) Beep (Piep) Buzz (Zoem) Beep (Piep) Buzz (Zoem) is a long-term project in which I - through the use of physical actions and interventions - let the narrative qualities of both the desire for knowledge and the urge to maintain ignorance influence the course of the video. During the production I focus on what forms the basis of my artistic practice, namely the interplay between my personal development and its narrative character and that what an artistic practice could be, based on (art) historical notions such as traditions and thus sharing a similar narrative nature.

The rangers meet again after 20 years in Ouwehands Zoo.

History of the Amsterdam Zoo, Artis, and an overview of its attractions.

Scenes of the former kaiser in what later became known as the Weimar Republic, and his other travels at the time.

A casket is carried outside. The men’s choir and the harmony singers walk along in the funeral procession. Finally there is the arrival at the Kapperlaan, and the leaving for the cemetery. We mainly see images of the funeral procession: many men pass before the camera, most of them clergy; Cardinal van Rossum also appears in the picture. We also see images of the casket.

A brief reportage about the train trip from Weltevreden to Meester Cornelis and from Meester Cornelis to Manggarai station (modern Indonesia), around 1920.