SNG Film (Studio Nieuwe Gronden)
Polonaise 2002
In the TV film Polonaise, traffic jams have grown into a phenomenon in which traffic jam call girls, hairdressers and photographers enliven the endless delays. The film follows a number of people in a jam on the A5. The central character is a Pole in an expensive Saab Convertible, who is wanted by the police. A red Panda carries the heavily pregnant Hilde and her cynical sister. Hilde is worried because she has not seen her friend anymore after a quarrel. In an old Saab, a young couple is bickering. She is a `yuppie cunt' who stakes her marriage for a parking licence and is tired of her husband smoking dope. Charlie the music promoter is driving his son's car. He likes traffic jams, because they allow him to settle his deals undisturbed and meet his secret love, the traffic jam call girl Nena. While the characters are confronted with each other and themselves more and more, tension rises to a peak. A radio pirate connects the story lines with his chatter.
The Sea That Thinks 2000
Incredible optical illusions in a story in a story in a story helps the surprised viewer finally to find out that he has been watching himself all along.
Rietveld Houses: A piece of furniture to live in 2024
In 2024, the iconic Rietveld Schröder House in Utrecht will celebrate its 100th anniversary. Gerrit Rietveld designed and built the house in close collaboration with his secret lover and creative partner Truus Schröder. Rietveld himself did not build his houses for eternity; he thought a life cycle of 50 years was sufficient. But the current owners of houses designed by Rietveld think differently about this. They pull out all the stops to renovate and preserve their Rietveld houses.
Brittle 1997
The parents of five sisters have been married for forty years; the daughters have gathered in the family beach house to make a video for them. The encounter is marked by many confrontations as well as cheerful moments. Reminiscent of the sweet children's poems that mother recited are countered by Elsschot's Marriage: 'He thought: I'll kill her and set light to the house...' It also turns out that father had once disappeared for eighteen months, a 'secret' that the daughters have different ideas about. Brittle, an intimate film version of a play written and performed by the same actresses, is about rivalry in a family, the right to silence, but also about the need for solidarity. At the Netherlands Film Festival in 1997 the Golden Calf for Best Actress was awarded to the five actresses together.
Kala azar 2020
A young couple employed by a pet crematorium finds fulfilment in respectfully removing cadavers. Their love blossoms in an environment where the boundaries between human and animal are fading. When they hit a stray dog, their relationship starts to derail.
Snelweg NL 2019
The highway in the Netherlands has a total length of almost 2500 kilometres. There is almost no other country with such an enormous highway density. In this documentary the monumentality, but also the apparent everydayness of our highway is shown. The highway is actually a poorly known arena for a wide range of activities. What does this monumental and almost perfect network say about us?
Marching in the Dark 2024
In a drought-struck region in India, suffering from climate change and a high suicide rate amongst farmers, a group of resilient women farmers, who recently lost their husbands, is coming together with a local psychologist to learn counselling and help others in grief.
After the Tone 2014
How do you deal with the fact that someone close to heart has suddenly disappeared without a trace? Can you go on living whilst waiting for his return?
One Life is Not Enough 2016
Fien de la Mar (1898-1965) was a Dutch actress with exceptional allure and extraordinary talent. With this she celebrated many triumphs, but her life ultimately ended in tragedy.
Black Eyes 2008
Over the years, filmmaker Jan Bosdriesz collected curious souvenirs from various countries that he cherishes. He wonders about their history. Among his favourite items are the Russian LPs by Pyotr Leschenko from the 1930s that he once inherited from his father. While Bosdriesz travels to Russia to learn more about the life of the singer whose music was forbidden in Soviet Russia, the turbulent history of the filmmaker's family is also addressed. During his trip, Bosdriesz talks to people who knew Leschenko.
Tanzania Transit 2018
On a train crossing Tanzania, a rolling microcosm of East African society, we follow three main characters, reflecting on the strength to survive.
In krakende welstand 1989
Upstream 2017
Homer and Joé trace the rivers of Croatia aboard a small boat. In spite of being fifty years old each one, none of them knew of the existence of the other until the recent death of the father of both. Now, however, they are half brothers. During the voyage, they meet Sean, an enigmatic Irish adventurer who will join them on the journey.
De Verlossing 2001
A Flemish family comes together in their maternal home. Oscar, the grotesque patriarch, his bedridden wife Magda, his feeble son Johnny and his daughter Julia, who's married to a Moroccan soccer player. There's something wrong with Magda, who's not only plagued by her physical decay, but also by visions of her dead sister Marleen.
Tiengemeten 2001 - 2006 2006
In the nineties, it was decided to convert Tiengemeten, an island in the Haringvliet estuary, from an agricultural area to a nature reserve with three zones, which were labelled 'wealth', 'melancholy' and 'wilderness'. After part one, focussing on the period 1996 to 2001, in part two of her documentary Sinke talks to the Vos brothers, the last two farmers on the island with whom the authorities are still negotiating about the conditions of their departure, and to representatives of the Society for the Preservation of Nature, the Department of Waterways and Public Works, the local authorities and Brussels, who mainly discuss the finances. Between times, she films the island.
De Schoorsteenveger 1992
A chimney sweep’s daredevil antics are meant to keep a young woman from jumping off the roof. But does she really want to jump? Or does he maybe? A street sweeper is watching and passes the hat round for our hero. Or is he part of the act too?
Glory Days 2021
The idealistic intentions with which the Kola peninsula has been explored since the beginning of the Russian revolution have left deep traces in the landscape and in the minds of people.
The State of the Grass 2022
In The State of the Grass, the battle that people are waging with their lawn is portrayed. We see that battle through the eyes of a hedgehog and a magpie. The magpie will mainly observe the people from above or from a distance and the hedgehog, on the other hand, sits close to it, scurrying through the plants. The people who will be observed are everyday people who want to have a perfect lawn. They constantly have to overcome new obstacles in their search for the perfect grass. Through the eyes of the magpie and the hedgehog we experience their frustrations. But also the passion that people feel or the satisfaction when they have solved a problem.
De kersenpluk 1995
De Kersenpluk tells the story about Jan visiting his grandfather for the last time during the summer in a little village in Drenthe. Thanks to Jan, his grandfather decides to do what he never dared during his entire life. Jan, as an outsider, is some sort of spectator of the life in the village, although he is also involved in that life.