Fourteen-year-old Shabu is a good-natured, creative, and street-smart boy from the south of Rotterdam. When he wrecks his grandmother’s car on a joyride, his whole family is angry with him. He has a summer to make amends before his grandmother returns from a vacation in Suriname.
Janneke has been working as a volunteer in palliative terminal care for over twenty years, both in the hospice and in people's homes. In The Night Watchman we see Janneke both in her daily life and while waking. Scenes in which surprising parallels and paradoxes show Janneke's position in her life and how they seem to embrace death at first sight.
An archival fiction feature about the eternal battle of the sexes, in which two star-crossed lovers trapped in a kingdom of shadows fight to keep their love alive as they gradually fall in hate. Their names are Forever Man and Forever Woman. They are embodied by actors and actresses from long-gone eras, but also by cartoon characters and puppet animations. Together they narrate the story of the euphoric ups and tragic downs of human existence. When Forever Dies, a virtuoso collage of film fragments from the Eye Filmmuseum archive, is an epic ode to largely unseen cinema anchored in the polarizing world of today.
Documentary about Constant Kusters, leader of the The Dutch Peoples-Union, a Dutch Neo-Nazi political party.
With verve and humour, teacher Peter van Maaren, a gay man converted to Islam, gives workshops about sexual and religious diversity to his pupils in primary and secondary schools. Without judgement and exploring their language, he opens sensitive topics up for discussion, triggering disarming and often confronting debates in class. But how do the pupils react when Peter tells them about his private life? Documentary about the importance of conducting safe and open discussions at school about subjects that some people consider taboo.
The story of the turbulent youth of Roma, a 13-year-old street boy neglected by his family and the state, who becomes a poster boy for the Ukrainian Revolution in 2014.
“Robberies, shootings, fights, burglaries, weed plantations.” Jose sums up life in his neighborhood in the southern part of Rotterdam. He longs to ride with the notorious stunt bike group known as Team Domina on their illegal “ride-outs” through the city. There are sometimes more than 100 riders, doing extended wheelies and other stunts amid the busy traffic. The riders set off from the southern suburbs and head for the wealthier north bank of the river. In a ride-out, the kids from the south manage to get themselves seen by the northerners—but also by the police, who crack down on their dangerous stunt riding.
With a visual style that alternates between intimate verité moments, meditative reflection and suspenseful sequences, the film tells the story of Chief Ramon Gonzalez, detective Manuel Casas and officer Mayra Garza, as they navigate the complexities of their existence on the US/Mexican border.
Dad humour is declared a thing of the past at a fire station in Amsterdam, where diversity must be promoted and employees must learn to interact with each other anew. A witty and human film about finding yourself in a time of cultural upheaval where fires still need to be put out.
A talented, headstrong, sassy girl's search for her own place in the boy-dominated world of skateboarding
Exploring lingerie, sex toys and the pleasures of her own body for the first time, a middle-aged disabled woman interrogates what physical intimacy means to her. After a lifetime of enduring mostly clinical forms of touch, she yearns for her first gratifying sexual experience. With the support of her friends, caregivers and a Dutch organization that connects disabled people to sex care workers, she builds the confidence needed to prioritize this aspect of her well-being at last. Offering a lens through which we can examine intersections of sexuality, disability and gender, Sexual Healing is an introspective conversation-starter that brings much-needed illumination to an experience that is too often left out of social discourse.
In Bird Strike, we see how man and animal must share the air space and the resulting consequences. In this visual story different characters struggle with their curious relationship with unpredictable flying troublemakers. Will man manage to get his own way, or will nature have the final say in this battle for the skies?
People detained under hospital orders work hard to return to society. Participating in a theatre project helps, but can also cause tension. Is it possible to leave your demons behind, or will they always remain with you?
