In 1970, during the annual Dutch national commemoration of those fallen in World War II, two men try to make a statement against gay discrimination. In the moments before and after the incident, their doubt, fear and firm belief becomes clear.
This rich essay searches for new ways of being together in the age of social media. We arrange our lives to impress the gaze of others and have become accustomed to being seen. For many young people, however, the party is over. Neoliberalism has made murderous competition the norm; and in the meantime, the planet is dying. Following the unmasking of Facebook’s real motives, more and more people are deleting their Facebook accounts – but this often results in social death. The first image in POSSESSED sets the tone: liquefied lead runs over burning smartphones, followed by images of a devastated neighbourhood in Aleppo. Even the smartphones have not survived the attack. The chains of social media must be cast off, but the perpetual question remains: Who is looking out for you? Academics Alex Williams (University of East Anglia) and Nick Srnicek (King's College London) address this crucial question, along with other issues
100UP is a film which investigates the will to live. It portrays a colourful selection of 100+ year old people from all over the world. They have lived for over a century and witnessed great historical events, but instead of dwelling on the past, they look ahead. With the clock inevitably ticking, these centenarians cling to life, set new goals with a joie de vivre, refusing to admit the betrayal of their deteriorating bodies. Time is both their enemy and their friend. They have overcome diseases, lost partners and some of them survived their own children. Nevertheless, these active, curious and creative 100+ year olds are amazingly good at restarting every new day.
At korfball practice, a timid young teenager finds himself forced to show his true colors upon witnessing his fellow players' locker room banter take a cruel turn at the expense of the most popular girl on their team.
Highly intelligent hacker Lillian joins a cybersecurity company in order to gain access to the bank where her father used to work. She discovers nothing is what it seems and it turns out she isn’t the only one pretending to be someone else. But where do we draw the line between activism and terrorism?
An all-male foster family tries to enjoy one last morning together, before their unity will be broken by what was inevitable all along.
A fatally-timed invasion of privacy forces two male roommates to an all-too-intimate heart-to-heart.
A sprawling meditation on the choreography of bodies in Moscow's urban landscape, Detours depicts a new way of dealing illicit drugs via the Darknet, the layering of the physical and the virtual realities, as well as a poetics, and politics, of space. Taking place in sleepy neighbourhoods, among the concrete walls of high-rises, behind garages and amidst abandoned railroads, the film alternately follows and loses track of Denis, the treasureman who hides stashes of drugs all over the city.
The gentle Odin (15) is the son of Herman Brest, the front man of an extreme right-wing group. After a speech by Herman goes viral, the family receives serious threats and Odin gets into a fight with the popular Victor (16) at school. As a pariah at school and a promise in his father's increasingly aggressive group, Odin feels trapped between two worlds. He desperately clings to loyalty to his father, but his once so familiar world view slowly starts to falter.
Fifteen-year-old Robin and her best friend Merel share everything and are inseparable. Except for Robin's budding sexuality and curiosity. Robin is ashamed of this and keeps it anxiously hidden.
Three high school teenagers reflect on the absence of the seriously ill Zoë. Voice overs reveal their deepest thoughts in this poetic triptych.
Time and tide is a cinematic essay on the stilling of nature. Film maker Marleen van der Werf closely observes the pace of the ever-changing coast. Following the tides of the wind, her camera slowly encounters the void of stillness. The natural scenery evolves into a simile for an emotional landscape.
Karman follows a worn out dealer, a disenchanted boy, a sleepless girl and a saint through an addicted city.
