Discoveries from Netherlands World Cinema

The Heart of Amsterdam chronicles the rise and fall of Amsterdam's underworld: a documentary based on forty years of filming in and around Amsterdam's Red Light District.

A boy plans a quiet evening at home. A message invites him to a party and pulls him into a loud, crowded space. He moves through flashing lights and strangers while trying to find a moment of calm. Overstimulated, he steps away from the chaos to breathe and regain focus.

A spoof of two scenes from American Psycho. Jean-Paul mistakes Biteman for Halbestrøm, who is a dick-head. When comparing jeans with several others, it turns out that Jean-Paul's jeans are Otaku, the holy grail of Japanese denim. This is too much for Biteman. The next day, Jean-Paul is at Biteman's apartment to have some Indonesian Kopi Luwak coffee. Jean-Paul makes fun of Biteman's apron, still thinking that he is Halbestrøm. Big mistake.

In "Reflections on Dutch Capitalism: Zero Sugar Version," Lakaaysha van Ewijk delves into how capitalism molds identity and desire, using an Italian expat's journey in the Netherlands as a lens. The film critiques the deep entanglement of consumer habits with our sense of self, showcasing the absurdities of a system where products shape identities. Through a narrative rich in symbolism, it probes the paradoxes of consumer culture versus the quest for authenticity, compelling viewers to question the impact of capitalist values on human nature and societal bonds.

An historic pageant was held in Helmond, Netherlands, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Roman Catholic Workmen's Association St. Lambertus.

The Story Of Leonora is a short film about a little girl who is given a red eye by two giant water bears and follows her demon to the edge of another world, a red world.

József works at the largest still-operational grain silo in Budapest. He’s been doing this work for more than 30 years, and lives in a container home next to the structure, where trucks and trains rumble past his window. When he is lowered into the ten-story-deep silos to clean them, he looks like a scuba diver at work. These scenes are captured with stunning, contrast-rich camerawork, and ably edited with a strong sound design.

A video diary of a trip to Nepal by artist Ed van der Kooy.

In love with her city, the director takes us on a journey of exploration and encounters in the greater Brussels area. She lets herself be moved and offers us a breath of fresh air. A hymn to life and to Brussels!

In this 25 minute documentary director Sebastian Mulder follows the tracks of the wolf Naya, by the huge amount of data that is collected: camera-recordings, gps-coordinates, samples, news items and so on.

This documentary follows an ambitious project that uses cutting-edge DNA analysis to accurately recreate the face of Britain's oldest complete skeleton, Cheddar Man

A film about the loneliness of an old man.

The paradox of the successful, worldly conductor, who makes the centuries-old world of classical music accessible, and the intimate composer feels rather like standing on a delicately balanced pile of rocks. And staying there until the rehearsals are concluded and the concert is about to begin. The conductor goes on stage and moves in front of the orchestra. He lifts his hands in the air - ready to embody music. In his documentary 'Brossé', Jacques Servaes gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the day-to-day life of conductor and composer, Dirk Brossé.

If We Knew is a documentary about paediatricians in an intensive-care unit for newborns. A film about the compassion needed to heal the sick and occasionally needed to hasten the death of a child.

Stage registration of the seventh comedy special 'Troosten' by the Dutch comedian Jochen Otten. His inability to make his daughter stop crying was the reason for Otten to make this performance about emotions. How can you reach someone's emotions.

‘Hipster’ Erik finds a new goal when sees the au pair of the neighbours sunbathing in the garden: to prove that he is not a forty-year-old familyman living in a suburb with the task to mow the lawn.

Rob takes a drag on a neighbor's crack pipe, his bills start piling up and one day, a letter arrives: his house is going to be repossessed. He packs a tent, gets on his bike and starts cycling.

A short film about our climate, our conscience and our future.

Maxime is faced with an uncertain future when his father dies from a genetic disease. He must choose: a genetic test or a leap into the unknown.

Hollie and Ophelia are in Osric's hands, and things are threatening to end badly. Hanna and Claudia, however, seem to be growing closer. But, is this real, or just an act..? Guido and Ronald are also playing a double role, Lilly is becoming more and more dangerous, and Han must now make a long-delayed choice: take action or not?

When 16-year-old Charlie’s older sister, Robin, doesn’t show up for their long-awaited concert, Charlie’s gut tells her something is terribly wrong. What starts as a small worry quickly escalates into a frantic search, leading Charlie to uncover devastating truths about Robin’s life that she never could have imagined. Directed by Soraya Alicia and Simon Kieffer, How Many Miles is a student short film that tells a visually striking and emotional story of sisterhood, the search for truth and teenage resilience.

A chronicle of prominent Dutch association football club Feyenoord's 75-year history, and its place at the heart of its namesake neighborhood on the south bank of Rotterdam, the largest seaport in Europe.

In this show the Dutch comedian Fuad Hassen talks about prejudices, in all shapes and sizes.

What if you could not touch each other anymore? What if you became touch-phobic? What if we became an organised, impersonal, faceless, untouchable society set up to avoid all physical contact as a rule of proper behaviour to the point of making physical interaction illegal? Zoë lives in such society and she is committed to finding what’s missing in her life by adhering to the Skinhearts. The ones who have to hide and traffic to put back in touch human skin. But will the most radical act there is in those times, make up for her need of human touch?

A father struggles with the administration when he comes to register his child.

Animation with animals going for a picknick

A science fiction documentary about a psychiatric institution for traumatized chimpanzees.

In his hilarious show "Wortels" (Roots), Klaas van der Eerden takes the audience back to his roots. Raised in the 1970s in a small farming village above Amsterdam in a hippie family, Klaas lets loose with his funny stories, characters, and improvisations. "Wortels is brimming with original ideas and a high density of jokes," wrote the AD newspaper. De Volkskrant enjoyed the "tasty stories" and called Wortel "an entertaining and meaningful program." And we haven't even mentioned the highly comical musical highlights with which Klaas constantly surprises his audience. Conclusion: an energetic, full-blooded entertainer who gives 100% every night and gets every audience going wild!

Discovering the world’s most prestigious orchestras. In this episode: founded in 1888, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra continues to inspire its young conductor, Klaus Mäkelä. Before him, great composers worked closely with the orchestra, including Richard Strauss, Claude Debussy, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Igor Stravinsky and Gustav Mahler.

During the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2002, Leo Hannewijk (festival director Film by the Sea) approached filmmaker and producer Digna Sinke with the idea of asking several film makers to make short films based on poems about the province of Zeeland. It would offer an opportunity to investigate the limits of the medium film and, just like poetry, not to focus on the story but to tackle universal and grander themes through mood and form. In the end, eight short films were realized, by eight different filmmakers. The films are connected by intermezzi, aerial shots of the Zeeland coasts. Poems of the Sea is a stirring and surprising portrayal of Zeeland. Filled with desires and passion.

Emma, an African woman, falls in love with Andrew, a white male. She loves him so much that she decides to abandon her husband and their two children... Seven years later, one of her sons recognizes his mother on the streets of Rotterdam. She recognizes him too and she thinks back to the last week before she left her husband and children.

This documentary by the Dutch design and research studio Metahaven emphatically argues that the Internet has become a disruptive geopolitical super weapon. The Sprawl is potent propaganda about propaganda, an unbroken digital scream and a paranoid trip of ones and zeroes.

Faced with a dramatic turn of events, two half-brothers must finally solve their lifelong differences in the most violent of ways.

In 1998 Kai Tak airport in the middle of Hong Kong was closed. Approaching Kai Tak was a unique experience for the passengers . «One could read the newspapers in the street» one passenger exclaimed. Hong Kong (HKG) is a film about the approach and the passing by of the airplanes in the middle of a city. An observation at the end of this century.

In The Curse of Lughus an ancient poltergeist escapes. He enters the statue of the jam advertising character Flipje in Tiel and from then on, all the wishes expressed on the market square come true. When Romy and her brother argue, Ryan suddenly disappears. Is the statue involved somehow?Director Sjoerd de Bont will be present for a q&a.

Photographer Maria meets up with Ann, the wife of her lover Jim. Since Jim is in jail, the women fight over him in his absence.

ERIK is a short film about memory, loss, and love. Erik, a 78-year-old man, is preparing to move out of his longtime home when he discovers that an important photograph of his wife is missing. As he searches through the empty rooms, it becomes clear that he is not only missing the photo but also losing his grip on reality. The film reflects on the profound and painful impact of Alzheimer’s, showing how it changes both those who live with it and their loved ones.

In this majestic production of Verdi’s Don Carlo, Riccardo Chailly’s qualities as a Verdi conductor are brilliantly displayed in the dramatic precision and transparent instrumental detail he draws from both orchestra and cast. Willy Decker directs a wonderful piece of stagecraft, letting the tragedy unwind with minimal, yet telling, interventions. The drama takes place in the mausoleum of Filippo II’s Escorial, where the tombs of countless generations of Spanish royalty line the walls. Filippo’s confrontation with Il grande inquisitore - which takes place over his own coffin, its resting place in the wall ready and waiting - is chillingly symbolic, as are the feet of the giant crucifix that hangs over Don Carlo as he sees his life sacrificed by his father.

After a vicious mugging, a troubled film student gathers an amateur film crew and travels to Amsterdam to find a mysterious masked vigilante, however, the crew gets caught in the crossfire between the super hero and his villains and must do everything to escape this wicked city alive.