Tom van Kessel

1941, the Warsaw ghetto. Filip, a young Polish Jew, with his beloved Sarah are getting ready to perform in a cabaret to earn a living. During the premiere, a shootout takes place, during which Sara, as well as Philip's relatives sitting in the audience are killed. Two years later, the man works as a waiter in the restaurant of an upscale hotel in Frankfurt.

A married factory worker confronts his feelings as they bubble to the surface, two boxers fight for more than just keeps, a countryside coming out doesn't quite go to plan, while at the beach a boy makes an unreal discovery. Come and explore a thoroughly Dutch view on life and love. The 5 short films are: Brick [Steen] (2013); South of Heaven [Ten Zuiden van de Hemel] (2019); Lukas by the Sea [Lukas aan Zee] (2016); Dante vs. Mohammed Ali (2018); Beautiful Alexander [Mooie Alexander] (2019).

When his boyfriend shows up unannounced, Elias' religious family learns their son's darkest secret.

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 grandfather doesn't tell his daughter and grand children he is seriously ill until just before their holiday.

It is Sjoerd's birthday and his mother has spared no trouble or expense to make this day a pleasurable one. Helped by the au pair, she takes the eleven-year-old kid on a search, where an unfortunate coincidence puts them in the middle of a raid. The criminals take the complete party bunch hostage and then it is a matter of surviving for the birthday boy.

Bonnie, a nine-year-old single child, is part of a family of three living in the Netherlands. They have a love of elephants, passed on by Bonnie's grandfather's grandfather who worked on a game reserve in Africa, and Bonnie feels that she instinctively does things like an elephant as a result. Her single mother, Lis, is bi-polar and at times spends days on end without even getting out of bed. Then there are other times when she will manically do wild acts, such as impromptu dancing in public. As a result, Bonnie's sturdy and stable grandmother must hold the family together by doing all the cooking, etc. After her grandmother is killed by a car, Bonnie becomes the most responsible family member and struggles with preparing meals and getting her reluctant mother to take her medication. She also must dodge Jorien, a social worker who is attempting to place her in a foster home.