Niek Koppen

Twenty years after Allard brought back the relationship with his mother to a minimum, the police calls him. They found her in a completely dishevelled house where she can no longer take care of herself. He decides not to abandon her in this state and takes responsibility for her care. Eventually, she ends up in a closed psychiatric ward. In this documentary, she blames her son for everything and wants him to behave like a good son.

Like his Swiss half-sister Jasmin, Dutch filmmaker Alex Pitstra is the child of a European mother and a Tunisian playboy father. The majority of their lives their father was absent, but after more than twenty years Alex invites Jasmin to travel to Tunisia with him. They want to reconnect with their Tunisian roots and find out how their father and his family relate to the 'bezness' phenomenon of North-African men roaming beaches and hotels, trying to seduce western women.

Peter Delpeut, regular dramaturge of dance troupe LeineRoebana, this time enters the studio as a filmmaker. The result: a cinematographic choreography of close-ups and expressions in the intimacy of the rehearsal room.

In October 2006, the Dutch women’s hockey team became world champions for the first time in 16 years. Niek Koppen’s documentary about the period leading up to this victory begins with the celebrations accompanying their arrival as champions at Amsterdam Airport. He then leaps 10 weeks back in time to the start of intensive preparations for the World Cup. Koppen uses neither comments nor interviews, but the extensive access to his subjects lets him show how excited the players and the technical staff are about the competition in Spain. Rather than focusing primarily on the sport itself, the director highlights the difficult process the team is going through.

In Justiça, Maria Ramos puts a camera where many Brazilians have never been - a criminal courtroom in Rio de Janeiro, following the daily routine of several characters. There are those that work there every day (public attorneys, judges, and prosecutors) and those that are merely passing through (the accused). The camera is used as an instrument that sees the social theatre, the structures of power - that is to say, what is, in general, invisible to us. The corridors of the Courts of Justice, the design and layout of the courtroom, the discourse, the codes, postures - all the little visual details and sounds become relevant.

No film-maker has ever before been given permission to follow a Dutch election campaign with the camera. On the basis of a few contractual conditions, film-maker Niek Koppen was given a glimpse into the 'kitchen' of the Labour Party election campaign in 1998. From the making of the publicity photos by Anton Corbijn to the celebration of the election victory on 6 May 1998. In the Prime Minister's residence, Koppen recorded how decisions were taken during intimate discussions, phone calls and meals. The film focuses on the arduous cooperation between the veterans Wim Kok and Jacques Wallage and the much younger campaign director Karin Adelmund. De keuken van Kok (Working for Labour) provides a picture of the emotions, ambitions, tactics and the ups and downs of a long and tiring process. (filmcommission.nl)

Documentary about the Dutch theatregroup the Werktheater. The aim of the company was to create socially relevant theater by means of cooperative processes and improvisation. They often played their performances on location, such as in hospitals, prisons, healthcare institutions and schools. In this documentary, those involved are interviewed about this remarkable theater group.