Het Doet Zo Zeer (2017)

Rietveld Houses: A piece of furniture to live in

In 2024, the iconic Rietveld Schröder House in Utrecht will celebrate its 100th anniversary. Gerrit Rietveld designed and built the house in close collaboration with his secret lover and creative partner Truus Schröder. Rietveld himself did not build his houses for eternity; he thought a life cycle of 50 years was sufficient. But the current owners of houses designed by Rietveld think differently about this. They pull out all the stops to renovate and preserve their Rietveld houses.

Sex, Drugs & Bicycles

The documentary that answers the question: is having month-long double paid vacations, no fear of homelessness, and universal health care the nightmare we've been warned about? The answer may surprise you.

The Mole Agent

When a daughter becomes concerned about her mother's well-being in a retirement home, private investigator Romulo hires Sergio, an 83-year-old man who becomes a new resident—and a mole inside the home, who struggles to balance his assignment with becoming increasingly involved in the lives of several residents.

2018 Oscar Nominated Short Films: Documentary

The year’s most spectacular Documentary short films.

Eindeloos Gepest - Het Verhaal van Nora, Tren en Anne-Ruth

Three young people look back on their plague past and the dark valley in which they ended up. They dare to talk openly about how they found the resilience to turn their lives around.

Family in the Bubble

My parents were real estate developers and dealers in the 1980s. They achieved the ‘middle class dream’ thanks to the development boom. However, the Asian financial crisis swept everything away.

My new friends from ward three

Frans Bromet ends up in the Reade rehabilitation clinic in Amsterdam after a brain haemorrhage. He soon picks up his camera and films his roommates and healthcare staff. Frans discovers how important intensive guidance is. But the bond with his fellow sufferers is also greater than expected. When he hears of upcoming budget cuts, his concerns grow about the future of the institution and therefore also about the rehabilitation process of the clients.

Prince Consorts: In the Shadow of the Crown

No profession, no say, no freedom of expression. Life as a prince consort is not exactly pleasure taxing. No constitution ascribes any function to the husband of a queen. Nowhere does it say what he must or must not do. A life in the shadow of the crown. Can that go well?

Mother

In a village in Thailand, Pomm works in a care center for Europeans with Alzheimer's. While she is separated from her children, she helps Elisabeth during the final stages of her life, as Maya, a new patient, is on her way from Switzerland.

ciao Aracà

"...a charming depiction of life as I knew it with my grandparents in my own village..." Clara Caleo Green, Cinema Italia UK "The sum of the individual fates and life choices paints a picture, the validity of which extends far beyond this village." Joachim Manzin, Black Box This documentary records the thoughtful and emotional confrontation with time, change, loss and hope related by the members of a small community in the idyllic Ligurian countryside who are dealing with a rapidly changing agricultural industry, transformed by globalisation and technological advances and an increasing number of foreigners buying the empty houses in their village. Forgoing the use of music and voice over, the film lets Aracà's inhabitants tell their own stories and allows the audience to dive into the rich soundscape of the ligurian alpine countryside.

The UFO's of Soesterberg

In the early morning of February 3, 1979, a giant black triangular object flew over Soesterberg Air Base. At least twelve soldiers witnessed this bizarre spectacle.

Tinkebell - Who Killed the Blue Bird?

Artist Katinka Simonse, alias Tinkebell, is a controversial, very mediagenic phenomenon. In her universe there is no distinction between life, art and activism; Tinkebell is her own work of art. Everything she encounters on her life path can become part of her story. Filmmaker Judith de Leeuw was given access to all images about Tinkebell, including her entire private archive. She thus constructed an archive film about how as a human being, living on the ruins of the past, you can be a character in your own story. What is the price you can afford if you continue to believe at any cost?

A Long Farewell

Dunchon Jugong Apts. at the edge of the metropolis, Seoul. It has been over 10 years since discussions of rebuilding these old apartment complexes began. The inhabitants tell us about their soon-to-be-demolished houses and apartments. Some of them have spent long spans of time here and some of them short. Some people are now raising daughters in the house they lived in since their childhood, some families came from other places and struggled to adjust. Each add their different forms of love to this space in their own way. As the long-postponed reconstruction nears reality, the day-to-day scenery of the apartment complexes and households is quietly coming to a close.

Flora's Life is No Picnic

Flora Schvartzman is a ninety year-old single woman who has wanted to die since the day she was born. Distanced from her family, she gets in touch with them to organize her own death. Iair, her great-nephew, is the first one to take an interest in her and her heirless apartment.

Point of Origin - Building a house in Austria

An international tech entrepreneur with a fondness for architecture asks Rem Koolhaas to build a house on an impossibly small piece of mountainside in Zell am See in Austria. The architect of the celebrated book S,M,L,XL seizes the challenge: how to draw light into a house less than four metres wide that is mostly underground? Photographer and filmmaker Frans Parthesius followed the building process and offers insight into Koolhaas’s way of working and the special relationship with his client.

Head Games

Former football player and wrestler Chris Nowinski's quest to publicize recent findings about the often dire consequences of head concussions sustained by athletes in contact sports — injuries that have previously been considered momentary setbacks and ignored in the name of toughness and dedication to the team.

The Rembrandt Century: How Art Became Big Business

In the 17th century, the Netherlands experienced an unprecedented artistic explosion: painters such as Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals were so prolific that they were able to make a living from their talent alone; so much so that, within a prosperous society, thanks to wealth from overseas colonies and financial speculation, collecting works of art became a status symbol.

Mirror of Holland

In this short film Bert Haanstra gives his vision - from the water – of a tranquil Holland. During filming he held the camera upside down and afterwards put the images ‘up right’ again in the film. By doing this, we see the ‘usual’ waterfront, but transformed by the rippling of the water. In this way Mirror of Holland became a modern looking experimental film. However this did not devalue the Dutch sentiment regarding waterfronts that are so trusted to so many.

A House in Jerusalem

Can a house be a metaphor for Arab-Jewish relations in Israel? Amos Gitai returns to the house in West Jerusalem he profiled in 1980. He interviews members of the Jewish families who live there, and he talks with the Arab family who lived in the house until 1948. They are now in East Jerusalem and pay a nearly furtive visit to the street in front of their old house. Gitai also interviews Palestinian laborers at work on renovations and excavating an old tunnel to the Holy Mount. What do people think of each other, what do they think of Israel, what do they think of co-existence? Do the current residents know the house's history?

The Little Ancestor

An ancestral house builds itself, comes to life, and shows us its story spanning one hundred fifty years. Through the ages, it allows us to perceive the passage of time.

Documentary: Moving

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A Cross the Universe

During the three weeks of Justice's March 2008 North American tour, Romain Gavras, So Me and the band themselves tape every second of their escapades across the country and the chaos that ensued.

unSpoken DREAMocracy

Documentary about Field Marshal P. Phibunsongkram (Plaek Khittasangka), a story about dreams that influence the lives of Thai people in many aspects. Until the peak of power with things you may not have known before!

Endless bullying - Daan's story

This moving documentary tells the story of Daan, a cheerful and talented boy who left life at the age of sixteen after a school career in which he was systematically excluded. Former classmates organize a reunion to investigate how things got to this point. They discover that many other students also felt unsafe in the classroom. Meanwhile, Daan's sister Julia, who, like Daan, loves theater, is working on her self-confidence. And Daan's group of friends, where he could finally be himself, looks back on the time they spent with him.

Spielball der Weltpolitik – Als Elten niederländisch wurde

It is an unknown chapter of the German post-war history: On April 23rd, 1949, the kingdom of the Netherlands occupied German soil as a pledge for demanded war reparations. Part of the annexed territories was also the small municipality of Elten. While the people of Elten were initially afraid of the occupation, the time “with Holland” actually became a miracle of prosperity and economy about which many people from Elten still rave today. The occupation period ended with the largest organized smuggling in the history of the federal republic of Germany. The Documentary shows this in never before released 8 mm footage!

World War C

It's war. War against an invisible enemy that is not as deadly as we are told. The world is changing rapidly. Disproportionate measures are taken worldwide that disrupt society as a whole. A dichotomy in society forced vaccinations and restrictions on freedom. Have we had the worst? Or is there something more disturbing to awaiting us.

Strijdmakker

VPRO icon Wim Brands died on April 4, 2016. He was known to the general public as a presenter of the VPRO Boeken program and also closer, with six collections of poetry to his name. This documentary about his life and work, built entirely from archive material, pays tribute to this television personality. A portrait in which attention is also paid to his complicated relationship with death. With a.o. Karl Ove Knausgård, David Sedaris, Ellen Deckwitz and Pieter Boskma. Brands' work merges with his rich inner life and that he chose death at the age of 56 casts a shadow over everything.

Zembla - The Dubious Friends of Donald Trump Part 1: The Russians

For months, the FBI have been investigating Russian interference in the American presidential elections. ZEMBLA is investigating another explosive dossier concerning Trump’s involvement with the Russians: Trump’s business and personal ties to oligarchs from the former Soviet Union. Powerful billionaires suspected of money laundering and fraud, and of having contacts in Moscow and with the mafia. What do these relationships say about Trump and why does he deny them? How compromising are these dubious business relationships for the 45th president of the United States? And are there connections with the Netherlands? ZEMBLA meets with one of Trump’s controversial cronies and speaks with a former CIA agent, fraud investigators, attorneys, and an American senator among others.

Invisible

From schools and offices to hospitals and streets, cleaners are working everywhere, tirelessly and modestly. They work hard and keep society running. Invisible confronts viewers with their own involvement and reveals the price paid for the appearances we cherish.

Rikkie Kollé, the most beautiful woman in the Netherlands

Rikkie Kollé will be the first trans woman to be crowned Miss Netherlands in July 2023. In addition to praise, 22-year-old Rikkie receives a remarkable amount of misunderstanding and hate reactions about herself. Fortunately, they have only strengthened her mission even more: being an example for young trans people and normalizing gender diversity. In a unique documentary, Miss Netherlands is followed on her way to the world stage in El Salvador where she is making a bid for the title of Miss Universe, with all the work, obligations and preparations that entails.

Bart and the search for the doppelgänger

Artist Bart Eysink Smeets is ready to confront our obsession with being unique. To rid the world of this, he will prove that he is not unique. He goes looking for his doppelgänger.

Duutsers

How was the Second World War experienced in Rouveen, Overijssel? This Orthodox Christian village near Staphorst was self-sufficient during the war. And largely isolated from the outside world. The last eyewitnesses of the war, the children of that time, are now all very old. In the Duutsers, residents of the Overijssel village of Rouveen talk movingly openly about their war memories to fellow villager and filmmaker Geertjan Lassche. Their stories are interspersed with historical video fragments and photos from the past. This is how an honest child's view of growing up in a rural village unfolds. How did the war come to the village? Who is that stranger in the village in front of them, that German? And in what those of other strangers? When does unrest arise, and unrest in fear of hatred? What about the Jewish labor camps in the village and how did they view the Canadian liberators?

Aida Returns

A poignant, sometimes sad, sometimes painful, sometimes humorous, often absurd story of a multiple journey: the journey of loss as the director’s mother Aida struggled with losing herself to Alzheimer’s disease, but finding solace in her repeated “returning” to the Yafa and Palestine of her youth; the journey of the loss of a parent; and the ultimate return journey back to Yafa where Aida would finally find rest and be herself once more.

Redefining China's Family: Women

10 May 2007 - China's staggering economic growth has overshadowed a more subtle shift in Chinese society. In domestic life, many women are now ignore the advice of their mothers and grandmothers, turning instead to counselling hotlines and, increasingly, divorce.

Mother's heart

“Job is 2 meters tall and has been my baby for 58 years. I will continue to care for him as long as I can,” says 91-year-old Tineke about her severely disabled adult son. But how long can she keep that up and who needs who: Job Tineke or Tineke Job? A documentary about the limits of motherhood.

Cats' Apartment

At the eastern end of Seoul, in a huge apartment complex, it has long been a paradise for cats and people to run around and give love and joy together. However, there are people who are worried about cats who are not leaving the place which will be demolished soon, ahead of reconstruction. "I want to ask. Do you want to keep living here?" For the happy farewell of cats and people, a beautiful struggle begins!

The legacy of Els Borst

February 8, 2024 will mark ten years since Els Borst was murdered. This documentary highlights the remarkable career and life of the former Minister of Health, based on conversations with people who knew her well. It shows Borst's personal side and her impressive contribution to Dutch society. In addition to the successful cases, what were they encountering? How did Borst deal with political opposition? What did this do to her personally? The documentary provides a tangible image of Els Borst as a politician and a person, with attention to her legacy and the tragic end of her life.

Anamnesis

An audiovisual representation of the degenerative dementia process based on real reports from people affected with this condition.

OMA - Elk moment een nieuwe ontmoeting

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It's Dutch Design

It's Dutch Design is a 60-minute documentary about the worldwide success of Dutch Design. Top Designers and international keyplayers reveal their personal vision and explain why a small country could become so big in the field of Design. The history is told with iconic Dutch Design examples, spanning more than 100 years.

Mother was a CEO

The story about how Britt-Marie took back the brush factory from her husband’s cruel brother at the end of the fifties was one of Malin’s childhood fairy tales. Britt-Marie is now 95 years old and trying to set the story straight with the help of her daughter behind the camera. Together they outline a powerful life story that is slowly fading away.

The Decimation of Sanity

A small skit-documentary hybrid, written, shot and edited all in the space of a couple of hours on the 25th of October 2021, by exclusively myself, for a university project.

Enkeltje Vrijheid

Before the eyes of the Sudanese Ahmed (25), the war broke out in full force. He decides to flee on foot to the Netherlands alone, to be able to live there in freedom. This documentary shows part of his arduous journey: from the Italian Alps to Ter Apel.

Schuld en boete

Five people talk about how easy it is to build up and how difficult it is to get out of it again. They fall ten prey to the powerful industry. Fines and extra costs make them so aware that they can no longer be solved on their own.

Visioni di case che crollano

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The betrayal of Hilversum

Documentary about the role of public broadcasting during the German occupation during the Second World War. A number of public broadcasters adopted a cooperative approach, allowing them to be used as a propaganda apparatus for the Nazis. An attitude with very far-reaching consequences.

Legal weed 2

Frans Bromet follows several cannabis growers who have been selected by lottery as the first suppliers of legal cannabis. Sequel to the 2021 documentary 'Legal Weed'. Ten growers have been selected by draw as the first legal cannabis growers for an experiment that would last four years. These are large companies where a lot of money is spent to enable large-scale production of cannabis. But the actual experiment still hasn't been fully rolled out. Only in a few cities is legal cannabis available in coffee shops. The biggest problems that growers and sellers face are supply stocks and the complexity of the track and trace system. Every movement of the weed must be registered. And that is almost impossible with a failing computer system. The future of the experiment remains highly unpredictable four years after its announcement.

A.

Having lost her memory, A. could barely recall glimpses of her childhood in Argentina. After her death, her son visits the empty house for the last time. A sensory journey through a house without objects but filled with memory.