Discoveries from Netherlands World Cinema

Wenzel Vecht is a 32-minute documentary about the Rotterdam artist Anne Wenzel (Germany, 1971). Anne sculpts monumental works of art in ceramics, a unique process.

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.

Ans Hoornweg died in 2022 at the age of 80. Hers was an extraordinary story. Extraordinary for others, that is, as contact with extraterrestrials was nothing special for Ans: she appeared on TV several times as a medium who could communicate with aliens. In Ans en het universum, for one last time, she recalls her out-of-body experiences and her visits to other planets. Ans also discusses her media appearances and how people would call her crazy, but still, Ans did not have one shred of doubt: aliens are everywhere and we’re slowly transitioning to an era where current gender norms are no longer applicable. Filmmakers Noëlle Ingeveldt and Juriaan van Berkel work together as Berkveldt to produce a sincere testimonial of a woman with a remarkable life story, filmed amongst the many dolls Ans made in the same likeness of her alien friends.

A dutch documentary series in 9 episodes about the history of dutch filmmaking after WW2.

Three moments in time are captured in three layers of coloured imagery shown simultaneously. Combined, the layers form normal full-colour images of the elements which persist through time. Simultaneously transitory elements - animals, people, machines - move through these scenes in single colours, leaving only a brief trace, as if they're memories or ghosts who have left behind their past, present or future. Some people have lived for so long that they become as stable as their surroundings. With dignity they become stereotypes of themselves, representatives of traditions which are as much a part of the landscape as the buildings. Three Dimensions of Time is part of (un)moved, a series of videos and photographs inspired by the photography of Sergey Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) and how he applied the colour separation process.

This story pays tribute to, Frank Curiel, a man who has dedicated over 50+ years to the sport of baseball on the small Caribbean island of Curaçao. He has formed part of the journey of nearly every major baseball athlete from the island, and countless others. Even though retired, to this day he continues to champion the sport, help his community any way possible and make sure the kids have a safe place to go and train baseball at Frank Curiel Ballpark.

The dream of an undinal being.

An experimental exploration of a day at the Mediacollege Amsterdam, blending documentary and fiction.

A short movie about synchronicity.

A satirical documentation of the last day of light on an "alien" planet whose civilization has known for 1000 years that its star would die out.

While cleaning Dave finds something that's impossible to dispose of... Life will never be the same.

Quinn lives with her grandfather. She often feels very misunderstood and alone, so she looks for a way out in a new social media, D-Dream.

In a sleepy, snow-covered village, a young playful Timmy Benson is being watched by a dark presence from the past.

The first Dutch fictional film. This very short silent slapstick comedy featured famous Dutch comedians Lion Solser and Piet Hesse. Considered lost.

Teenage mother Cheryl struggles to combine school with the care of her one-year-old daughter. When troubles are mounting she slowly starts to lose control over her life.

Growing up as a parent to your parents leaves deep marks on the soul. During one family constellation therapy, Lucien is finally coming to terms with his unsafe childhood. It is an emotional journey through long-supressed anger, fear and sorrow, to finally showing himself to the world.

Born in Suriname and living in the Netherlands, Clarence Breeveld wants to visit the places where his ancestors were traded as slaves. Along with director Frank Zichem, he departs for Ghana, where he is informed about how and where the slave trade took place. Breeveld is visibly moved upon seeing the dank dungeons and the 'door of no return' at Cape Coast Castle. The encounter with the 'key bearer' of the mighty Ashanti king is not a dispassionate event, either. At Fort Elmina, they meet the Ghanaian Stephen Korsah, who knows a lot about the history of slavery in his native country and Europe, but nothing about final destination Suriname. The road movie gets a sequel when Korsah travels along to Suriname. In the interior, he is greeted in Kromanti, the language from his native region. Now, even the tough Korsah is touched. The wounds of slavery are far from healed.

A lighthearted animation about a not-so-everyday postal worker on her fantastical journey to deliver a not-so-everyday letter.

Filmmaker Joris Koptod Nioky moves in with his 71-year-old mother Rian to film her reflecting on motherhood. When he shows her a temporary edit, Rian is overcome by sadness and withdraws from collaboration. Her sadness quickly turns into anger that ends in a battle to have the movie banned.

The Dutch musical comedian sings and talks about art school, paintings and going underground in this posthumous released registration of his show from 2012.

The artwork Everyone is Dead Except Us by Ben Zegers occupies a prominent place on the Binnenrotte, the place where Rotterdam was founded 750 years ago. CBK Rotterdam and Sculpture International Rotterdam (SIR) commissioned visual artist and filmmaker Mels van Zutphen to make a film about the realization of this work. This short film shows the creation process of the artwork in various stages.

Wandering through a lonely world filled with painful encounters, Philip desperately seeks validation from others. Along the way, he finds this isn't the solution to his problems. When the price of hearts discovers the power of self-love, he realizes that the relationship he has with himself is the most important of all: that is true happiness.

Eleven thousand photos, six miles of footage, three hundred books and eighteen volumes of Indië Oud en Nieuw: this is the historical legacy of Hendrik Tillema, who was born in Friesland and worked his way up to a successful producer of carbonated drinks in the Netherlands East-Indies early last century. He used his accumulated wealth to improve the life of the orang tekil (the common man) in Indonesia. For example, he published his own book about the lack of a sewer system and he saw to it that the local population was vaccinated ('one vaccinator does more for the pacification of Indonesia than an army of soldiers'). By means of a staggering amount of self-shot and collected material, this `one-man Third World movement' qualified the limited, positive image of our former colony that persisted until the forties.

A feast for the eye, this essay on trompe-l’oeil, deception, privileges, seductions and false freedoms. The façade of public life hides the private lives of individuals and hidden agendas. We develop new skills to test our happiness in the non-stop flow of images and information. How to live in the post-privacy age?

Documentary.

A young, lonely woman tries to make contact with other people.

Documentary on writer Ernest Claes.

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.

This documentary tells the story of an 80-year-old woman who has "...nothing else to do but to sit and think."

In her psychoses, Gioia had her greatest dreams and darkest nightmares. But reality allows little room for imagination. A dance documentary on the border of delusion and reality.

Bob, Wendy and the amazing team of machines help everyone out in this fun collection of new adventures. By working together, they can get the job done! Scoop and Liftie discover that with a little help from their friends, they can do more than they thought. Krabbel learns that it's not just one machine that needs to be in the spotlight, but the whole team. And Dizzy causes chaos at the lighthouse when she shows off her spinning new wheelie skills. Luckily, Bob and the rest of the team are there to lend a hand, grab, crane, slider and scoop! Will you join us? • Liftie helps out • Krabbel plays a role • Scramblers stage surprise • Wendy's birthday party • Dizzy's wheelies

Leon tries to make the world a better place for his children.

Famed Dutch photographer Ed van der Elsken documents the natural world as well as the local people in and around his hometown of Edam, the Netherlands.

Political texts from the journal In Search, edited by M.S. Arnoni (Wim Schlebaum)

A portrait of four young 'lattepappa's' (milk dads), who are taking care of their baby full time. These Swedish fathers not only have paternity leave for months, but also meet in groups to express their feelings and prepare themselves in classes such as childbirth and paternity. The contrast with the Dutch situation is huge. Lattepappa's is a humorous and moving sketch of Swedish society and her caring fathers. A short docu about tough and caring Vikings.

The residents of a flat building are completely self-absorbed and never look out their window to see a chicken frequently fluttering by. The chicken has a nest on the roof where she hatches her eggs. One day the eggs get stolen.

A boy scout tries to make the world a better place and as a result he transcends into other persons, not famous and very famous. Will it make a change?