Best Dutch documentary movies

At the heart of one of the most densely populated areas of Europe, in a country where every square meter of land has been meticulously shaped by man, lie the Oostvaardersplassen – a unique experiment in letting nature run its course. In just 40 years, 6,000 hectares of newly formed polder has been transformed into one of Europe’s most dynamic and productive wetlands – home to some of Europe’s rarest birds such as the magnificent white tailed eagle, which hadn’t been seen in the Netherlands since the Middle Ages.

In 1990, seven young male dancers joined Madonna on her most controversial world tour. Their journey was captured in Truth or Dare. As a self-proclaimed 'mother' to her six gay dancers plus straight Oliver, Madonna used the film to make a stand on gay rights and freedom of expression. The dancers became paragons of pride, inspiring people all over the world to dare to be who you are. 25 years later, the dancers share their own stories about life during and after the tour. What does it really take to express yourself?

The world's most influential Dutch rave makes its legendary comeback. In the 1990s, Thunderdome initiated a total revolution in the nightlife and became the founder of the Netherlands largest cultural export product: dance music. Thunderdome returned in 2017 after five years of silence. Will Thunderdome manage to reinvent itself for a new generation of ravers. Go on a trip down memory lane and look forward to the future with the pioneers of the past and the new faces of today.

We live in a society that both condemns pedophiles and sexualizes young girls. The film explores the many dangers children face and exposes the systematic violation of children rights by societies, presenting the testimony of both victims and perpetrators. It also looks at how the pedophilia hysteria that has led to the mass incarceration adults and children.

This short documentary, shot in the glass factories of Leerdam and Schiedam, demonstrates how glass blowers do their work. But thanks to the superbly edited ballet of working hands and the sequence of mechanical motions of the engines, is it especially a cinematic tour de force. That the industry can’t do without man’s involvement is shown in the scene where we hear the voice of Haanstra himself counting the bottles on the conveyor belt, until one bottle breaks…

A portrait of the visionary Dutch artist M. C. Escher (1898-1972), according to his own words, taken from his diary, his correspondence and the texts of his lectures.

A lyrical portrait of Amsterdam and its changing appearance during a rain-shower.

The past collides with the present in this excavation of the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam: a journey from World War II to recent years of pandemic and protest and a provocative, life-affirming reflection on memory, time and what's to come.

A camera crew travels through Thailand asking villagers to invent the next chapter of an ever-growing story.

An ode to the cat. A compilation of the funniest and cutest cat video's by Abatutu, the most famous cat in The Netherlands

A perfect, fast and hilarious montage. Using images from Artis (Amsterdam Zoo), Bert Haanstra shows that a couple of similarities can be discovered between human and animal. Particularly the manner in which human and ape are confronted with each other, is significant. The images speak for themselves, human voices or commentary is absent. The ironic music of Pim Jacobs does add an extra dimension to the whole. With regards to human and animal Haanstra limits himself for the time being to this short film, recorded with a hidden camera. Later on, in several big films, he would return to this subject.

By exploring the relationship between the watched and the watching, our film uncovers the trauma and hope engendered by the Chinese all-surveilling state and lends a voice to those that stand in resilient defiance of such blatant abuse of power.

In the year before he retires, Gregor Weber, a globally renowned Vermeer expert and flamboyant curator at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, works on his big dream: the largest Vermeer exhibition ever. Together with Weber, a number of enthusiasts and experts go in search of what truly makes a Vermeer a Vermeer.

If the cityscapes and patriotic anthems of this film seem a far cry from the bleak landscape of Seoul Train, that's no accident. Dutch filmmaker Pieter Fleury, with the full permission and cooperation of the North Korean government, created this propaganda film that gives us a glimpse of a day in the life of one of the world's most enigmatic societies. A Day in the Life, largely dictated by the North Korean film bureau, follows a typical North Korean family through their daily duties, largely dedicated to the pride in the North Korean nation of comrades and the glory of General Kim Jong Il. The film is meant to extol the success of modern North Korea. But does it? With straight footage and a total absence of narration, viewers may interpret Fleury's film in a slightly different manner than intended

From the imposing mating call of the red deer and the flight of the buzzard to the hunt of the fox and the micro-ecosystem on a massive oak: nature documentarist Luc Enting recorded it all for his stunning feature film Wild Heart of Holland, produced by PVPictures. The result of his efforts is an exciting, moving and often humorous film, revealing the beauty and diversity of this wild park in every season. We also watch the main characters grow up to adulthood, a path inevitably dogged with challenges. Enting: “To me, this park, in any season, has an almost un-Dutch beauty. It is the largest continuous nature reserve in northwest Europe with an incredible variety of landscapes and life. It has forests, heath, sand drifts, brooks and pushed moraines. With my film, I would like to give a new insight into its incredibly diverse nature.”

One of the world's best restaurants, the Copenhagen-based NOMA and its renowned chef-owner René Redzepi relocate the restaurant and its entire staff to Tokyo.

Enjoy an homage to the stunning scenery, majestic wildlife and ageless forces of nature found throughout Holland's lush and vivid landscapes.

44-year old autistic Kees still lives with his parents. How long can his eldery parents keep taking care of him and what happens with Kees when they are unable to?

Sisters doing it for themselves in Amsterdam's Red Light District. Louise and Martine Fokkens are identical twins. For over fifty years they were working as prostitutes. They freed themselves from the control of their pimps, ran their own brothel, and set up the first informal trade union for prostitutes. They are familiar faces in Amsterdam's Red Light District, but soon they will bid their farewells. The Ladies Fokkens is a portrait of these remarkable women, as well as a history of the Red Light District over the past fifty years.

Episode 1 is the registration of Renzo Martens' activities in Chechnya. He penetrates the war-zone —alone, illegal and carrying a Hi8 camera- and takes on the role of the single most important actor in war: that of the ubiquitous, yet forever undefined, television viewer for whose attention the battles are being fought. Amidst ruins and bombings, he does not ask refugees, UN employees and rebels how they feel. Those stories are well known, and serve no purpose for those who tell them. Instead, he asks them how they think he feels. The film forms a metaphor for an economy of images, roles and emotions. At the same time, there Martens stands, alone, with his camera, recording. The film is not about some external phenomenon, but about the terms and conditions of its own existence.

A dutch mini-series/documentary that celebrates fifteen years of broadcasting the legendare dutch musicshow ‘101Barz’. The documentary follows the production of a one-off live show in the Royal Theater Carré in Amsterdam with multiple Grammy winning jazz and pop orchestra ‘The Metropole Orkest’ in collaboration with some of the best artists from the dutch rap and hip-hop scene. This is interjected by interviews with some of the most notable and loyal guests of the show and ‘Rotjoch’ the creator and presenter of the show during all these years.

The city from the unique perspective of the many wild animals and plants that inhabit it. Seen through the eyes of the adventurous urban cat, Abatutu.

Famous feline Abatutu presents this charming celebration of cats, showcasing their finest and friskiest moments with a collection of home videos.

A chronicle of the civil uprising against the regime of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych that took place in Kyiv in the winter of 2013/14. The film follows the progress of the revolution: from peaceful rallies, half a million strong in the Maidan square, to the bloody street battles between protesters and riot police.

Tom, the filmmaker, receives a letter from South Africa. His long forgotten 95-year old grandmother Mariann, asks him to come and help her with her will. Tom sets off to South Africa and decides to bring his camera. This starts a journey for the filmmaker and his grandmother, looking back at her life and trying to understand his own.

A documentary on the subject of ADHD.

Director Marc Schmidt films his longtime friend Matthijs, an autistic person desperately trying to create order in the chaos around him. When the housing corporation tries to evict him from, suicide seems the only way out for Matthijs...

Recently widowed from a man 50 years her senior and bored to tears with covering ladies fashion, Lady Grace leaped at the chance to be the only woman onboard one of the media sensations of the decade. At journey's end she returned to America a star, thanks to her good looks and gutsy charm. But her reports on the ship's travels for the front pages of the Hearst press empire only told part of the story. In her diary she recorded a far more intimate journey-her struggle to get over her secret affair with shipmate, mentor, and married man Karl von Wiegand. Combining spectacular archival footage of the journey across New York, Siberia, Tokyo, and the Pacific with narration drawn from Drummond's articles and her private journals, this sweeping black and white documentary stands as a vision of technological marvels and global hope in that narrow window between world wars when everything seemed possible except true love.

In this documentary, experts dissect the Battle of Britain, which took place on Sept. 15, 1940 — a day that determined the fate of the nation.

Documentary about four maffia-like friends based in Amsterdam.

Bert Haanstra paints a portrait of The Netherlands and the Dutch, in his own unparalleled manner. Partly with the aid of a hidden camera he observes people in the most diverse situations. He shows the unusual in the usual and the usual in the unusual. The harsh years of the post war era of reconstruction have passed and for most people life is better than before.

When the heavy scent of autumn starts filling the air, the falling leaves and inevitable showers announce one of the toughest cycling classics. With its winding roads and steep slopes of 14% maximum, the Giro di Lombardia also known as the 'classic of the falling leaves' is pro cycling season's grand finale. The century-old race in the Italian hills surrounding Lake Como has been won by Italian cycling heroes Coppi, Bartali and Moser. And also legends like Merckx, Hinault and Kelly made it to the podium. The 1962 edition is by far the toughest in the history of the race and was won by Dutchman Jo de Roo. Still every year Dutch pro cyclists participate to be a part of this great cycling tradition and in the end to gain victory. Just with one simple camera Dutch director Johannes Sigmond and producer Robert Jan van Noort visited the race from 2006 to 2010. They filmed and talked to Dutch participants in an effort to capture the soul of this legendary Italian bike race.

Unique portrait of Louis van Gaal: one of the best soccer coaches our country has ever known and the man about whom everyone has an opinion. In the film we see Van Gaal in his colorful life; not only his career, but also his background, family life and passions. For three years, the current national coach was filmed during work and private moments. In conversations with national and international soccer stars, but also with his wife and daughters, a complete picture emerges of the development of the Van Gaal phenomenon, his unprecedented career and the remarkable man behind the much-discussed image.

Shadow Game is an experimentally filmed account of the far-reaching consequences of European asylum policy. Now fences have gone up all over Europe, seeking asylum has become almost impossible. The teenagers cross snowy landscapes and meet aggressive border police on their way. Reaching their final destination has become more difficult than ever. Their journey takes them through the whole of Europe: from Greece to North Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, from Italy to France and The Netherlands. The film was shot over a period of three years, partly by the main characters themselves on their phones.

A look at what happened after Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan was filmed in the Romanian village of Glod. It follows the life of one girl who longs to escape the poverty as foreign lawyers arrive with the promise of suing 20th Century Fox for millions of dollars.

It’s a documentary (sort of). We loved performing for so many beautiful souls this year and wanted everyone who couldn’t join us to experience this too. Enjoy the 5 Seconds of Summer Show (Live & Backstage In Amsterdam).

Somber tells the story of three depressed young people, all three in a different phase of the disease. What does depression do to a person? What does it actually mean? And above all, is there a way out?

Documentary on the Dutch filmmaker Dick Maas.

The film tells the story of two friends who want to disappear from life. While their country Belgium is falling apart, two lost souls cling to each other.

A retrospective on 9/11 through the eyes of Dutch New Yorkers

Eye Filmmuseum and the British Film Institute present a compilation film of newly-restored rare images from the first years of filmmaking. Immerse yourself in enchanting images of Venice, Berlin, Amsterdam and London from 120 years ago. Let yourself be carried away in the mesmerizing events and celebrities of the time, and feel the enthusiasm of early cinema that overcame the challenge of capturing life-like movement.

One million Dutchmen (out of 16 million) play soccer. Almost two million fish at least once a year. Fishing might be the most remarkable sport in the world. The documentary V.I.S.S.E.N (FISHING) dives into the world of Dutch fish and fishermen. Above and under water, on the IJ, at the coast, on the North Sea, in the cities, in the polder and on and by lakes and rivers. The film is a personal, filmic search for the “primordial fisher” in mankind and a portrait of the Netherlands by and on the water. V.I.S.S.E.N is also about what moves the fishermen. Who are the people that fish? Is fishing a hobby, a sport, an escape or a primordial instinct one cannot repress? What goes through your mind when you fish, when you catch something, or when you do not catch anything. And: what's it like for the fish, getting hooked?

Chechnya's struggle for independence, as seen through the eyes of three friends who grew up in the Chechen capital of Grozny.

A new look at the facts about 9/11

From the moment Snarky Puppy played its first overseas show to a sold-out London crowd, they felt at home in Europe. Recorded and filmed live with a studio audience over 4 nights in the Netherlands, 'We Like It Here' capture the band at its most exploitative point in its career, in both composition and improvisation. The film also contains over an hour of interviews, behind the scenes tour footage in Europe, and alternative solo takes from the recording sessions.

Eleven-year-old Anne is a beautiful girl. The kind of girl you can’t take your eyes off. And the longer you look, the more you see her ‘tics’. Anne suffers from Gilles de la Tourette’s syndrome. This makes her body do things she doesn’t want, such as suddenly spinning around or licking everything. Anne sometimes finds it hard to cope with her illness, especially in school. She’s afraid that others will bully her or laugh at her. Anne therefore tries to keep her tics in check, although that isn’t easy. She prefers ‘flying’ through life, so you won’t notice anything. When flying, she’s at her best. The youth documentary FLYING ANNE shows how Anne lives life with her tics. Tics that, in the end, she doesn’t want to lose either...

The only North American crayfish that does cheer you up: this stop-motion copy of fabric. The exotic little animal is a huge plague in our ditches – the Dutch legislation being in a quagmire.

A century of change in pictures (1915-2015). What makes Twente Twente? What changes have taken place in the last century? Twente op Film is a project by filmmaker Erik Willems, actress (and co-producer) Johanna ter Steege and producer André Oude Weernink. They used film archive images to make a film about what has changed in Twente in a century. In city planning, in industry, in every day life, in the countryside and in the city.

The widows of Ahatović reminisce stories about their husbands and sons who were killed in a massacre during the Yougoslav civil war in 1992.

Documentary covering the Warner Bros. James Cagney /Pat O'Brien classic "Angels with Dirty Faces" (1938), hosted by film historian Rudy Behlmer.

August 4, 2006, the personal search queries of 650,000 AOL (America Online) users accidentally ended up on the Internet, for all to see. These search queries were entered in AOL's search engine over a three-month period. After three days AOL realized their blunder and removed the data from their site, but the sensitive private data had already leaked to several other sites. I love Alaska tells the story of one of those AOL users.

A revealing exploration of Chaplin’s Romani heritage constructed from intimate interviews, film extracts, home movies and contributions from renowned contemporary Romani artists.

Within Temptation's tour DVD in support of their album, "The Silent Force." The Silent Force Tour is a double DVD which was released on November 18, 2005. In addition to the standard double DVD release, the deluxe edition includes a bonus CD. The main concert features the band playing at the Java-eiland, Amsterdam. Three songs that were performed at the concert were not included on the release ("Somewhere", "Enter" and "Running Up that Hill"). The song "World of Make Believe" was also scheduled to be played, but keyboardist Martijn Spierenburg felt "unprepared" to play this song live. Live concert at the Java Island, Amsterdam,live videos from two European summer festivals (Helsinki, Finland, 2005 and Rock Werchter, Belgium, 2005) and the three music videos of off the album The Silent Force ("Stand My Ground", "Memories" and "Angels"). Disc 2 consists of Backstage footage, making of documentaries, Impressions and Interviews and extras.

Another Day At The Office offers an exclusive look at Tiësto on the road. We've followed him around the world, starting in the summer of 2002 until the end of the year. We've covered high-profile parties as Cream Ibiza, Bloemendaal, Impuiz Outdoor, ID&T Innercity, Motion Open Air Switzerland, and several gigs from North American Area2 tour just to name a few.

The Other Final is a 2003 documentary film, directed by Johan Kramer, about a football match between Bhutan and Montserrat, the then-lowest ranked teams in the FIFA World Rankings.

A registration of legendary reggaeband Doe Maar‘s Symphonica in Rosso reunion concert accompanied by Guido's Orchestra.

Inhabitants of Beirut talk about their love for the singer Fairuz.

Colleagues about the comedian in the run-up to his last New Year's Eve conference

Reporter Nicolaas Veul decides to set up his first Instagram account and accumulate as many followers as possible. Over time, he becomes more interested in the social network's inner workings and uncovers a well-oiled machine based on fraud. While users enthusiastically give likes to selfies, a brisk business with user accounts is underway behind the scenes. There are huge numbers of fake profiles, and internet bots are producing new followers for those who want to feel more successful. Can anything on Instagram be believed?

Père-Lachaise - one of the world's most famous and beautiful cemeteries - is the final resting-place of a gifted group of artists from all eras and corners of the world. Some - such as Piaf, Proust, Jim Morrison and Chopin - are worshiped to this day. Others have fallen into oblivion, or are visited occasionally by a single admirer. In Forever we see the mysterious, calming and consoling beauty of this unique cemetery through the eyes of people of flesh and blood. Many come for their 'own' beloved: husbands, wives, family and friends. Others Honor 'their' artist by leaving behind a personal message or a flower. While admirers share with us the importance of art and beauty in their lives, the graveyard gradually reveals itself as a source of inspiration for the living. Death offers little consolation except for the passing of time, the melancholia of a moss-covered tomb, and the beauty and power of a piece of music, a poem or a painting Written by Cobos

In the 1940s, Alima decides to flee from an arranged marriage to work as a nanny for a Dutch family. Through all her new impressions and thoughts, she looks critically at colonial society and her own position.