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Dutch film

Cinematic year 2023: the year of Barbenheimer and Sweet Dreams

Dutch cinemas and film theatres sold a total of almost 32 million cinema tickets in 2023. Not bad by far. Barbie attracted the most visitors, The Tattas was the biggest Dutch draw. The Dutch film press had already chosen Aftersun by Charlotte Wells as the best film at the end of December, while Sweet Dreams by Ena Sendijarević, also a convincing Golden Calf winner, emerged as the best Dutch title. Meanwhile, in America, the strike of screenwriters and actors gave the film industry there a tough year.

Renzo Martens on White Cube: 'From now on, the Stedelijk should devote its entire acquisitions budget to art by plantation workers.'

A sleek, snow-white art temple in the middle of the Congolese interior. What does that mean? Renzo Martens talks about his new documentary White Cube, and the art project that allows plantation workers to buy back their land. Premiering at IDFA and in Lusanga, Congo.

Open your eyes, watch and reflect, engage in conversation. Opening IDFA 2019 showcases the sublime extremes of documentary.

The 32nd edition of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam has opened with Sunless Shadows. Confessions of young women jailed for complicity in the murder of their father or other man in the family grow into a haunting statement about oppressed women in a male-dominated society. The only Dutch film in the international competition is Rotjochies by Maasja Ooms.

Dutch youth film in dire straits too? Plenty to talk about during the Cinekid festival

The Cinekid youth film festival opens this week with Binti, a catchy, highly topical youth film brimming with optimism. That sounds good, because optimism is what the Dutch youth film can use right now. Too bad, then, that Binti, about a girl from Congo who does everything in her power to be allowed to stay in Belgium with her father, is a largely Belgian production.... 

Red flags, pretty words and a resolute plan: Dogma 19. Turn a feature film like a documentary.

Following Denmark, the Netherlands now has its own Dogma manifesto. A modest but also ambitious statement from two young filmmakers who present a surprisingly clear plan after a season full of noise and concerns about Dutch cinema. Whether it is a pebble or a big pebble in the pond remains to be seen. In any case, they are going to do something,... 

"'Well nice' is not good enough, that falls right off." Film critic Jan Pieter Ekker on possibly the last Directors' Forum at the Dutch Film Festival

The Dutch Film Festival is about to erupt. A spacious week with a broad overview of everything moving on Dutch screens, from public film to short student film. Last year was noisy: directors, editors and cameramen expressed gloom about the quality and guts of patriotic film. Visitor numbers don't seem to be overblown either, although... 

Why the most artistic film genre struggles to get off the ground. The growing pains of the dance film, part 1.

There is a lot of grumbling about Dutch cinema: it is too good, not creative enough, there is not enough experimentation. However, there is one small island where other laws apply. Where, sometimes with hefty budgets and sometimes for next to nothing, films are made that speak a different language: the dance film. No psychologising, no endless dialogue, but... 

Morgan Knibbe does not shy away from heavy subjects: 'film is an empathy machine.'

In 2014, Morgan Knibbe (1989) made the short film Shipwreck, about the aftermath of a horrific shipwreck on the coast of Lampedusa in which 350 refugees drowned. Shortly afterwards, he made his first feature-length documentary, also about refugee issues: 'Those Who Feel the Burning'. This very impressive, original and visually strong film was one of the best Dutch films of the last... 

Sacha Polak on the battered but strong woman in Dirty God, opening film 48th IFFR. Emotion is the motto this year

'Feel IFFR' is the motto of this year's International Film Festival Rotterdam. The emotion behind the image and with the viewer as a guide for our interpretation. The opening film Dirty God is a nice test case. Director Sacha Polak explains why she wanted to make a film about a scarred woman.

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