Thomas Ryckewaert

Downtown

In 1988, three young gay men, Ronnie, Lennart and Bas, throw themselves into Amsterdam's nightlife scene. It’s a life full of friendship, sex and drugs. Until the mysterious AIDS virus casts a shadow over their lives and one of them disappears after becoming infected. Thirty-two years later, in the middle of the 2021 lockdown, Ronnie recognises the missing Bas in the subway. An evening unfolds that none of them had expected to see, but which had been in the air for years. The AIDS epidemic has had a major impact on all three of their lives. Where they lost each other 32 years ago, they hope to find each other again.

Magic Mountains

Hannah travels through the Polish mountains with her ex-boyfriend Lex. During their journey the young woman finds out that Lex has prepared the perfect crime, with Hannah as his victim.

Groenland

A photographer travels around the world. In Amsterdam, where he lives, he meets Iris, who is ten years younger. He is fascinated by her and slowly their relationship grows. Even though they are passionate about each other, their lifestyle and vision on the world appear to be too differentiated.

Dust

When Belgian tech visionaries Luc and Geert learn that their fraud will hit the papers in less than 24 hours, they realise their company and their status will evaporate. With jail time becoming inevitable, they each go on their separate paths of redemption. As they quietly seek atonement from their investors – their families and the close-knit community, they learn what truly matters.

Foster

An all-male foster family tries to enjoy one last morning together, before their unity will be broken by what was inevitable all along.

Waldstille

In this drama, Ben is faced with the anger and grief of his entire village when, inebriated, he causes a road accident in which his girlfriend Tinka dies. Ben is sent to prison and his resentful in-laws get custody of his little daughter Cindy. When Ben after two years returns to the southern village of Waldstille, he intends to restore contact with Cindy as soon as possible - despite opposition from his parents-in-law.

Hokwerda's Child

Lin, a long-distance swimmer, is training for a cross-channel swim when she encounters Henri, a deep-sea welder, who, like her, thrives on danger. Drawing each other deep into an intense love affair, they forget that lovers too can drown.

Copyrette

A young woman’s naked body lies inertly on a kitchen floor. With the paint all flaked off and the trash in the garden, her house looks deserted at first glance. The atmosphere is ominous. In a nearby wood, a man calls his beautiful white, almost translucent dog. The man and woman’s paths cross at a copy shop, where the introverted woman’s peculiar physical obsession manifests itself.

Downtown

In 1988, three young gay men, Ronnie, Lennart and Bas, throw themselves into Amsterdam's nightlife scene. It’s a life full of friendship, sex and drugs. Until the mysterious AIDS virus casts a shadow over their lives and one of them disappears after becoming infected. Thirty-two years later, in the middle of the 2021 lockdown, Ronnie recognises the missing Bas in the subway. An evening unfolds that none of them had expected to see, but which had been in the air for years. The AIDS epidemic has had a major impact on all three of their lives. Where they lost each other 32 years ago, they hope to find each other again.

Magic Mountains

Hannah travels through the Polish mountains with her ex-boyfriend Lex. During their journey the young woman finds out that Lex has prepared the perfect crime, with Hannah as his victim.

Groenland

A photographer travels around the world. In Amsterdam, where he lives, he meets Iris, who is ten years younger. He is fascinated by her and slowly their relationship grows. Even though they are passionate about each other, their lifestyle and vision on the world appear to be too differentiated.

Dust

When Belgian tech visionaries Luc and Geert learn that their fraud will hit the papers in less than 24 hours, they realise their company and their status will evaporate. With jail time becoming inevitable, they each go on their separate paths of redemption. As they quietly seek atonement from their investors – their families and the close-knit community, they learn what truly matters.

Foster

An all-male foster family tries to enjoy one last morning together, before their unity will be broken by what was inevitable all along.

Waldstille

In this drama, Ben is faced with the anger and grief of his entire village when, inebriated, he causes a road accident in which his girlfriend Tinka dies. Ben is sent to prison and his resentful in-laws get custody of his little daughter Cindy. When Ben after two years returns to the southern village of Waldstille, he intends to restore contact with Cindy as soon as possible - despite opposition from his parents-in-law.

Hokwerda's Child

Lin, a long-distance swimmer, is training for a cross-channel swim when she encounters Henri, a deep-sea welder, who, like her, thrives on danger. Drawing each other deep into an intense love affair, they forget that lovers too can drown.

Copyrette

A young woman’s naked body lies inertly on a kitchen floor. With the paint all flaked off and the trash in the garden, her house looks deserted at first glance. The atmosphere is ominous. In a nearby wood, a man calls his beautiful white, almost translucent dog. The man and woman’s paths cross at a copy shop, where the introverted woman’s peculiar physical obsession manifests itself.

Kenau

While she fights a heroic battle against the Spanish besieger with her female army, Kenau, driven by hate and sorrow of the execution of her youngest daughter, is threatened to also lose her eldest daughter, because her fear and pain are covered by her stubborn closeness.

Bo

Fifteen year old Deborah meets Jennifer who steers her into a career as an escort. Under the alias Bo she begins a new life that she cannot handle and starts a downward spiral that only she can end.

Ritual

The discovery of a chopped-off hand in a Brussels canal forces Belgian police diver Kiki to face deep guilt from the past, her own and her country’s. Based on the book ‘Ritual’ by Mo Hayder.

The Male Gaze: The Heat of the Night

When darkness falls, temperatures rise in these six stories about late night confessions, intimacy for sale, high speed hookups and full moon frissons. But when the sun comes up and reality reveals itself, will it have all been worth it? The short films are: Thirst (2018); According to Mateo [Según Mateo] (2017); Hardcore (2016); Beast [Séptimo] (2011); Petit Ami (2017); Skai Blue (2017).

Petit ami

Jasper, a 20 something playboy with little empathy, has a date in a rather obscure motel Petit Ami with Vincent, a mysterious older man. For Jasper just another day on the job, until he discovers Vincent's secret.

Traffic

Natalia and Ginel leave their small Romanian Danube village to work abroad in Rotterdam. One evening, when she is assaulted after meeting a local, Natalia asks Ita, a friend from home turned into a crook, to help her.

High Heels, Low Tide

Four girl friends in their late twenties go on a reunion weekend to the sea, to the house where they spent their teenage years. What should have been a convivial gathering deteriorates into an unavoidable personal and mutual confrontation. They understand that they must reassess their friendship and realize that their lives have changed for ever.

Tussen man en vrouw

Awkward and touching moments at a wedding party where two ex-lovers are forced to spend the evening together. While the booze flows liberally and people around them are deliriously sweating and dancing to corny music, he makes advances. The initial chill between the former couple is extra painful because of the ebullient merrymakers and the budding happiness around them. Still, their love appears to have survived, although the old wounds haven’t completely healed either.

The Gay Agenda 29

In this series of shorts, the phrase "Gay Agenda" is reclaimed from the religious right and transformed into a celebration of gay culture. Sit back and enjoy "Dominant Chord," "Petit Ami," "Skin to Skin," and "Follow Me."

Only Time Will Tell

Dimitri is lonely and depressed: since his shop in party goods went bankrupt, he has been struggling with a dead-end situation, with all the mess in his house and everyday troubles like a leaking freezer. Marina recently ended her relationship and decided to set off on an adventure. She finds Dimitri via a website for cheap lodgings. It seems something beautiful may develop between them, perhaps even romantically. But not everything is what it seems in this dark fairy-tale.

Cobain

Fifteen-year-old Cobain tries to get his pregnant mother Mia to quit her self-destructive lifestyle. When she refuses to clean up her act, Cobain takes over.

Resurrection

An old man who isolated himself from civilization receives an unexpected visitor.

Dutch Touch

Compilation of 4 gay-themed short films by director Anthony Schatteman: [1] Petit ami (2017) … [2] Kiss Me Softly (2012) … [3] Hello, Stranger (2016) … [4] Follow Me (2015).

The Serpent

The remarkable story of how murderer Charles Sobhraj was captured. As the chief suspect in unsolved murders of young Western travellers across India, Thailand and Nepal’s ‘Hippie Trail’ in 1975 and 1976, Sobhraj had repeatedly slipped from the grasp of authorities worldwide to become Interpol's most wanted man, with arrest warrants on three different continents.

The Bunker

A specialized team is responsible for the country's State Security. This Antwerp cell operates from the bunker, a secret and underground headquarters

Arcadia

Following a major catastrophe, a new society, Arcadia, is born. Resources have become scarce and a point system, known as the Citizen Score, is introduced. It determines what you can and may do and what a citizen is entitled to.

Alpha 00

Diana leads a specialized investigative team for the most urgent cases. From the state-of-the-art mobile command center – the ALPHA 00 – the team coordinates complex operations on-site.

Home Grown

A local Belgian potato farmer loses all his money and tries to earn it back by growing cannabis.

The Spiral

The charismatic leader of an artist collective based in Copenhagen plan an art heist. He intends to steal six of the worlds most famous paintings.

The Swell

When a big storm arrives that can flood the lower parts of the Netherlands and Belgium, prime minister Hans Kreuger has to make a decision; can we evacuate four million people? Going for the evacuation of civilians, hospitals and prisons will take at least 4 days.

Het Goddelijke Monster

Ik val niet, ik dans

As a teenager, Emma hears that she is terminally ill and therefore spends most of her puberty in the hospital. But against all expectations, the treatments are successful and she is declared better. That is the starting signal for her to finally start living. Life takes her from Utrecht to New York and from the meadows of Portengen to the canals of Amsterdam. Emma lives with dedication and takes on every challenge with a huge dose of resilient and black humor. But no matter how hard she lives, reality always catches up with her. 'Ik Val Niet, Ik Dans' is a dazzling drama series about falling and getting up and inspires you to keep dancing, even when life makes you stumble.