Discoveries from Netherlands World Cinema

A portrait of the timpani and percussion section of the Dutch Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

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

Sophie is on a rollercoaster of emotions while she awaits her hospital’s research results. The outcome will tell if the cancer has spread or not. During these uncertain times, Sophie realizes she loves life.

Sola Powers, special agent with Extra Terrestrial Affairs, jumps into action when a drive-in cinema showing a UFO invasion movie is attacked by a real UFO. Sola literally uses all cinematic tools to defeat the ruthless intruders.

Max Verstappen, his father Jos, his manager Raymond Vermeulen, and David Coulthard look back on Max's career and the 2021 race that won him his first Formula 1 championship.

A boy casts aside everything in pursuit of his dream, a quest we all share: the quest to find a place he can call home, even if it's underwater. He loves to swim with fishes and builds an ingenious machine to be able to dive.

In 1980 film writer Ruud den Drijver goes head to head with two notorious Dutch film directors, Paul Verhoeven and Wim Verstappen, passionate film makers, competitors and colleagues in a free for all heated discussion ranging (among other subjects) from oral sex to the art of motion pictures. 25 years later the confrontation is continued during the Cannes Film Festival. In the meantime Wim Verstappen has died a year earlier and Paul Verhoeven has returned from a brilliant career in the States. Paul is still very outspoken. He talks freely about the present-day neo-conservative policies of America, and about the situation in Hollywood and his work. THAT'S IT!!(English title)(1980-2005) is a retrospective view on the careers of two driven film directors and is a hilarious time document larded with passionate statements.

When a 6th-grade class is divided at an understaffed school, an intern tries to make a difference within a system he doesn’t fully understand, while a charismatic student attempts to ignite a revolution in a school that has never supported him.

A shipwrecked man and the ocean in a confronting waltz. No nice bobbing on the waves in this short animation, with all that mess in the water.

The performing arts are hit hard by the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Opera, too, faces a serious challenge: How can they make the enormous effort demanded of them by Le Nozze di Figaro worthwhile without having an audience? With two years of preparation time and performances that have long sold out, Mozart’s opera Le Nozze di Figaro is an ambitious international production by the National Opera. But when the opera house is forced to close due to COVID-19, everyone’s biggest fear becomes reality. What is an opera without an audience? What can they do to make sure all the hard work has not been for nothing? In the spirit of Le nozze di Figaro and in the style of the opera buffa (comic opera), Crazy Days demonstrates how important it is to create things of beauty, precisely in these insane pandemic times.

"Everything in me said I had to do it." Martin de Vries decides, without any preparation worth mentioning, to walk the Camino, the famous pilgrims’ way to Santiago de Compostela. From Le Puy-en-Velay in central France to north-west Spain; a journey of 1,600 kilometres, taking almost 70 days. He films himself while walking – his feet, his shadow, the path, the fields and woods – and tries to get to the bottom of why he set out on this adventure.

A husband, half of an entertainment duo, the Nellicos, tells his wife, who is the other half of the duo, that he has another woman. But they cannot discuss this as he tells her only just before they are due to perform in front of a large audience. (BFI)

Qlimax is an annual event held by the Dutch entertainment enterprise, Q-dance. It is considered one of the leading hardstyle events on the calendar and a major attraction of Q-dance and contains some of the most sophisticated production and setup as well as sound system for any event.

How do Dutch actors in the post-#MeToo era look back at intimate scenes and what do they think about the arrival of the intimacy coordinator? From her experience as an actress and filmmaker, Tamar van den Dop talks to several past and present icons.

The quirky Dutch-Jamaican Hadiah Tromp (21) is the daughter of Navy officer Tromp, who believes his daughter is a perfect fit for the Navy. But Hadiah doesn't like her Navy training. She prefers to stay at home and listen to her collection of old Ska records. When her boyfriend cheats on her, she decides to finish her Navy training. But Hadiah has difficulties feeling at home in the disciplined and closed environment of the naval frigate and she has constant collusions with the handsome but stern Sergeant Major Paul Borremans. Can the impulsive Hadiah stand tall in the Navy world full of rules? Or is she forced to leave the ship early?

Happiness and sadness, joy and sorrow at the campsite. Secret letters, hysteria, bullying, hippie romanticism, betrayal and fading love.

Three foxes - Hunter, Scar, and Red - live on a Serengeti-like landscape on a rewilded part of the world's largest man-made island in the Netherlands. Through the eyes and voice of Hunter, we follow how she grows up from being a 6 week old fox cub to raising cubs of her own among thousands of wild horses, deer, and cattle that roam wild and undisturbed by humans just 20 miles from Amsterdam.

A four-legged friend goes on a sailing vacation with his family. But then, due to a case of mistaken identity, they all end up in jail for burglary.

The young Sem wants to go to Iceland and the place where is late father left his mark. Together with his best friend Mo, he sets up a crew for the expedition. But is everyone just as determent as Sem to reach Iceland?

Sinterklaas and the Pieten have a big problem. The castle of Sinterklaas is about to collapse. It must be demolished. That is why Sinterklaas and the Pieten are forced to stay at a campsite. Even Hugo Hogepief is at a loss, because no castle means no presents and gingerbread cookies for the children. Even though Kim Kado, Marco Marsepein and Willem Wortel try their utmost, there is a huge chance that the Sinterklaas party will not happen. But is the castle of Sinterklaas really about to collapse or is it a cunning plan by Stan & Olivier? Kikkie and Paco don't trust everything and start an investigation. Will they manage to save the Sinterklaas party?

A poetic horror story, set in 1903, about a twelve year old girl who tries to unravel the frightening mystery of the black pond behind the family house.

In a restaurant a lonely man battles with a salt shaker.

Filmmaker and cinematographer Piotr Pawlus volunteered to the war effort in Ukraine, delivering aid from Poland and transporting civilian refugees.

Sam starts working at Spoetnik, a clandestine chips stand named after its specialty. Right across the street is a brothel with an alluring girl who evidently needs Sam’s help.

The wealthy De Roquevilles, the family of alcoholic veteran Jean Laurent, and that of farmer Godard; all have to deal with the outbreak of the Great War. To complicate things even more, Godard's daughter Anny falls in love with young Mario Laurent, who turns out to have inherited some of his father's vices. First part of Maurits Binger's epic silent trilogy.

In a monumental building a group of scientists submit women to obscure experiments in which sexuality and cruelty constantly merge into one another. "Pentimento" is an art-historical term for a hidden image underneath the actual image giving an indication of how the latter evolved to its current state.

In a small village called Kropsdam, an oppressive, misguided community starts harassing quiet farmer Lammert, after wrongly accusing him of helping to build a wind turbine in their town.

As Alex is about to get married, his father Charles sets off for a secret mission in Germany. Hilarity ensues when their personal contacts start to interfere with one another.

In 1952, Haanstra made Panta Rhei , another view of Holland through the eyes of a painter and filmmaker. Its poetic images of water, skies and clouds reflect Haanstra's own moods.

This short documentary by Gerard D'Olivat follows the hard physical labour of a farmer from the Eilandspolder, a water-rich area in the heart of North Holland. He wants a better future for his young family.

The action takes place during the first presidential debate. A Nobel Prize winner fights for the future of her country as a presidential candidate. At the same time, her brave and naive aides are fighting for her own future.

After stealing from the wrong Amsterdam druglord, Ana finds herself homeless, desperate, and reluctantly teaming up with a filthy street goblin who dreams of robbing banks. Together they drift through scams and grifts in a scuzzy fairytale about survival and accidental friendship.

Short film made in response to public concern about the consequences of swine fever. The location is a slaughterhouse. A place where the dead pig is normal, where the pig becomes meat. This graduation film was awarded the Citroën Award and the Golden Flame in 1998.

A grandfather doesn't tell his daughter and grand children he is seriously ill until just before their holiday.

A woman drives in her car, wearing a grave look on her face. In the background, we hear the sounds of the freeway. The camera often captures her face, but occasionally we look at her from behind. Hypnotising lines on the road whiz by. Just like trees and other elements surrounding the road. Some short telephone conversations alternate with long silences. Meanwhile, the spectator travels along with the woman for many miles. Next, her phone rings for the third time. It turns out to be her lover. Gradually, the nature of the conversation becomes clear. It is their final, but intense and extensive talk. One time, the tone is very impersonal, another time defiant or even particularly emotional. More and more becomes clear about the two characters and their past relationship.

Kiek is worried as her father works in a war zone. To lengthen the odds of her father getting hurt, she comes up with a strange and unique idea: she needs a dead dog and a dead mouse, because Kiek doesn't know one person who has a dead mouse, a dead dog and a dead father. Surely the odds against that are enormous?

Heintje Blom, a simple working woman, is told to move into a villa in a posh part of town. The inhabitants are none too pleased, but in spite of the class division a romance blossoms between the rich family’s son and Heintje’s daughter. The two families warm to each other in the end and the happy pair is united in wedded bliss. This comedy about the post-war housing shortage marked the return of the feature length Dutch film to the cinemas.

Director Entrop follows Lalla Weiss for a year, the spokeswoman of the national Sinti and Roma organisation. Weiss emphasises that the Roma and Sinti have been denied a place in our culture for seven hundred years, and that this is only recently and gradually changing. She herself is the living proof of the fact that things can change: she is married to Kees, a civilian, and as his wife she takes the lead in the traditional male dominated Roma and Sinti societies.

When his wife Lydia commits suicide, succesful attorney Robert Havinck is freed from his unhappy marriage. Unfortunately, it turns out she took a complete stranger along with her, and a feeling of guilt and curiosity about her motives lead Havinck to team up with his fifteen-year old daughter to explore Lydia's final days.

When two soon-to-be stepbrothers, road-trip up the California coast to attend their parents' wedding, they encounter a series of unexpected detours.

The lonesome construction worker Carl gets into a relation with Flicka, a girl inside a computer program.

When Amy and her boyfriend have a nice dinner in a restaurant where they first met, it turns out there's some pressure on their relationship.

A Flemish bourgeois family in 1920 is dominated by three wealthy aunts who constantly threaten to disinherit them. When their daughter Eggers falls in love with the gentleman farmer Flack, a bon vivant, the aunts want to quell this passion by any means necessary.

Johan van der Keuken explains, "Some fifteen filmmakers were asked to make a film series in a relay style for a very popular variety program on Dutch television: each new program was to start from the last image of the previous program, developing the story from that image. It was necessary to work according to codes of the crime thriller. I 'sabotaged' these codes, following a close-up of a pistol, inherited from my predecessor, by a series of comic observations of my cat, accompanied by a text on the need to innovate methods of expression and communication in cinema."

“Scarcity” is a gripping and emotionally charged film set in a desolate, post-apocalyptic world, where survival hinges on scarce resources and life changing decisions. The film explores the importance of human connection and sacrifice in the face of desperation on many levels. Centering around a determined girl, Alisa, navigating her way through the dangerous outside world. The story follows her relentless quest to find life-saving medicine for her sick caretaker, Anatoly, her only remaining family.

New Year's show 2012

Johan van der Keuken went against the grain in 1980: from Amsterdam (on April 30 with the coronation riots and squatting actions) via Paris, southern France and Italy to Egypt. He made his personal travelogue in three parts for VPRO television. Later, he fused the three parts into one long movie.

Documentary about the Dutch theatregroup the Werktheater. The aim of the company was to create socially relevant theater by means of cooperative processes and improvisation. They often played their performances on location, such as in hospitals, prisons, healthcare institutions and schools. In this documentary, those involved are interviewed about this remarkable theater group.

Fifteen-year-old Emma and her best friend Julia are enjoying their summer at a campsite in France. When a group of older French boys arrive, Julia only has eyes for them. Emma tries to participate, but it is not coming naturally. While Emma observes Julia in her first, playful explorations of her sexuality, Emma is being confronted with confounding feelings.

When Claire returns from Burkina Faso, she is totally transformed and her girlfriends barely recognize her. Cheryl discovers Martin is cheating on her yet again and for her, this time it's the last straw: she files for divorce. Anouk, also unhappy with her love life, threatens to develop an eating disorder. Roelien, however, accepts Evert's wedding proposal. Then, a fatal and thoroughly bizarre accident transports the girlfriends to the snowy mountaintops of Austria...

In recent years, the number of people living in a bus or camper has increased significantly. But for this growing group, there are fewer and fewer places where you can legally park. The Kardinge car park in Groningen, a popular refuge for people staying in their campers, is also under pressure. Does the Netherlands actually have room for nomads and what drives people to want to live off the beaten track? Filmmaker Tom Tieman temporarily goes into hiding at the Kardinge car park and meets the current residents. Read more

Griendtsveen, a picturesque village in the Peel on the border between Limburg and Brabant, is in danger of losing its primary school De Driehoek. The school, which has been the beating heart of the village for years, is about to close its doors. Documentary maker Ellis Smulders follows the teachers and parents who are determined to keep their school, if necessary by forming the school board themselves. Will they succeed in preserving the core of the close-knit village community, and thus the soul of the village?

An unexpected love story, and the final episode of "Vitaal Filmen".