Gijs van de Westelaken

Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.

Gooische Vrouwen (Vipers Nest) is based on a very popular Dutch TV series and can be described as a Dutch variation of Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives. The film tells the story of four girlfriends who live in the bourgeois area ‘t Gooi, where life always seems to run smoothly, but dark clouds are gathering on the horizon. A flight seems the only way out…

After falling out with his editor, a fading political journalist is forced to interview America's most popular soap actress.

Dutch filmmakers gathered to make this compilation movie, consisting of 17 segments, as a reaction to the status quo in The Netherlands after the assassination of filmmaker Theo van Gogh on november 2, 2004.

Tessa opens her luxurious clinic with a big party. She is smart, beautiful, savvy, and happily married with an intelligent adolescent son. But appearances are deceptive. In reality, her marriage is falling apart, her house renovation is a disaster and the finances of her clinic are a mess. Desperate, she accepts the helping hand of a friend from the past who has turned up suddenly, but in doing so, opens herself up to an ordeal of terror and blackmail.

After a couple of drinks two twenty-something students make a deal to have sex with each other for 2000 Euros. The deal takes them to Barcelona. There, their mutual embarrassment over the deal complicates matters, but brings them closer together.

Antwerp, Belgium. The lives of four small-time drug dealers spin out of control when they steal a shipment of cocaine, triggering a full out war between an Amsterdam drug lord and a ruthless Colombian cartel.

Sabine is looking for the truth behind the disappearance of her best friend twenty years ago. An encounter with the handsome Olaf, a man she remembers from her teenage years, and the announcement of a high school reunion turn her life upside down.

The young Katelijne grows up in a strict Protestant peasant family. As the only girl between six brothers, she is hardly involved in farm work and is excluded from daily conversations. Hereby she lets her imagination run free by surrendering to Biblical stories, gossip and even fairy tales, although she is not allowed to read them. During her brother's wedding, however, she overwhelms her family with literature, saying goodbye to her childhood.

A middle-aged journalist interviews the real-life Dutch star Katja Schuurman, in her own loft. Pierre, the journalist is annoyed at being given such a fluffy assignment, as he is normally a political correspondent. Initially he has no questions for Katja, but soon they are coaxing their darkest secrets out of each other.

An actor tempts fate when he convinces a legendary, but loose-cannon, theater director out of retirement to give a masterclass at a drama school.

Nick and Evy are in love. Knowing that Nick is deaf, Evy’s parents do not consent to their relationship. They run away and move into an abandoned submarine, hidden from judgmental eyes. Their runaway love brings them new opportunities and new hardships...

This movie follows a gang of Morrocan/Dutch youngsters into their criminal career.

A fictional version of the events that led to the assassination of the Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn on May 6, 2002. The movie is based upon the book "The sixth of May" by Tomas Ross.

Artis, the Netherlands’ oldest zoo, is about to undergo its most radical renovation in its 178 years of existence. The inspired managing director has a very clear mission – but, is this mission at the same time not a threat to himself, his employees and his animals? And also: how can we look after our environment whilst at the same time we wish to reduce our influence on it?

2 November 2004, shortly before nine in the morning. In The Hague, the report comes in that in Amsterdam Theo van Gogh has been murdered. All warning bells start ringing. With the country in flames, sometimes literally, politicians and officials in The Hague have to neutralise all sorts of known and unknown stings, and just when Van Gogh’s cremation seems to herald a period of relative peace, a second explosion follows: the attack on the Hofstad Network in the Laakkwartier in The Hague. A reconstruction of nine days of political high tension and flying dust, a decade after the assassination of the trendsetting filmmaker and TV presenter.

The father of the seventeen-year-old Katinka is a huge fan of the Dutch comedian Hans Teeuwen. The small house of the Vermeulen family breathes him: the TV blares Hans Teeuwen shows all day long, there are posters everywhere and numerous CDs and DVDs swing through the room. The Teeuwen Excess leads to fears and delusions in Katinka. She gets nightmares in which Hans Teeuwen reveals himself to her: she hears his voice regularly and she thinks she sees him appear now and then. Katinka tells her psychiatrist about her nightmare that Hans Teeuwen rapes her teddy bear while calling out her name. The psychiatrist advises her to meet Teeuwen in real life, because in this way she may be able to adjust the image she has created herself.

A documentary about the fascinating and complicated process of the rebuilding of Holland's most famous museum, The Rijksmuseum. The film shows the people behind the scenes during the years of demolition, restoration, and political and financial debate. We witness their efforts, joys and struggles with one goal in common: the love of art.

An in-depth look at news stories. Documentaries that take you behind the scenes giving an insight into people's lives or institutions.

When a heavily traumatised girl of African origin is found wandering around the polders of the border region between Flanders and the Netherlands, Tara, a Dutch police inspector from Rotterdam, and Bert, a psychiatrist from Antwerp, begin to investigate.

Mourning the death of her husband Simon, supposedly killed in a plane crash, Liv is shocked to discover that Simon lied to her and was not a passenger on the tragic flight. Seeking the truth surrounding her husband’s mysterious disappearance, Liv uncovers secrets that threaten to destroy her entire family…

Greek tragedy by Euripide moved to Dutch politics. Medea, the daughter of the chairman of the senate, falls madly in love with ambitious politician Jason. Together they plan a campaign to make Jason prime minister.