Inez
An all-too-ambitious playlist curator at a major music streaming company finds himself on a soul-searching summer day’s odyssey across his adopted Amsterdam.
The Spijkerbergs are an absurdly rich family, but they are also richly absurd. The father – a foolish, hotshot financier – collects miniature dioramas of historical atrocities as a hobby. Mother is a has-been prima donna fighting against the vagaries of age and fame. Inheriting their privilege and casual cruelty is daughter Amy, a rebellious if somewhat insular teenager longing to break out of her gilded cage. To gain a semblance of control over her cocooned existence, Amy produces an autobiographical mock-Kabuki performance that parodies her family.
Nina
After a terrible car crash, Ben saves himself first, then tries to rescue his son Luca in vain. He can't hold his breath long enough to save him. Ben and Nina lose a child. Trapped in guilt and grief Ben starts to avoid contact with Nina.
Kim
After growing up in a closed youth care facility, Samuel is brought to a private care farm where the care taker has a more warm and personal approach.
A town in Aragon commemorates a battle in the Bay of Matanzas. No one wants to play Spanish admiral Benavides, who abandoned his ships and treasures without a fight. An absurd historical choreography of a battle with no casualties, with the eccentric style of the multifaceted Dick el Demasiado.
Suzan (10) spends the summer vacation with her grandmother, because her mother – Connie – is a war correspondent in Syria. Suzan visits the recently built refugee camp near grandmothers house. One girl (Rana, also 10) stands out. She is wearing brightly colored clothes. Suzan is fascinated by her, to the displeasure of her friends. Suzan does not care about them and she befriends Rana. The Syrian girl loves to talk about her life in Syria, but when Suzan asks Rana to tell her something about her parents, Rana quickly changes the subject. One night, Grandma gets a phone call. Connie has disappeared. Suzan is distraught, but keeps strong in front of others. When Suzan is on the beach with Rana, she eventually breaks down in tears.
Madelief
When popular TV show host Dr. Love goes missing ahead of the annual Christmas special, a zany search for his replacement and holiday romance ensues.
An Amsterdam telemarketer of Surinamese descent suffers an existential crisis of identity when he finds fortune and belonging by using a typically Dutch name to boost his sales.
Bo is the only child of rich parents and goes to a private school in Switzerland. When the holiday starts, he is kidnapped and his rich, safe and secluded world is turned upside down. During their long cross-country trip back to the Netherlands to meet the ransom deadline, Bo and his abductor Fred, a gruff lovable loser, forge a strange friendship. Bo discovers in Fred the father that he misses and learns to stand up for himself. Fred is confronted with where he has always been running from and learns to become a father.
No other language has so many words for the notion of pain than Farsi does. When the originally Iranian choreographer and dancer Arezo gets a surprise visit from her brother Koshan, this observation becomes the leitmotiv of a serene, emotional tug-of-war between two refugees. Where does pain lead to tension, where to conciliation? In sober colours, the director visualises the struggle of two creative people trying to give vent to an unspeakable trauma from the past that they have in common, but are unable to share.
Mara
A criminal from Amsterdam barely surviving a liquidation. An old Frisian farmer bent on revenge. An illegal immigrant with uncertain prospects. Eventually, they meet under an ancient oak tree. Beyond the last town.
A young, unhappily married moslim woman works at a call centre, conducting telephone surveys. In this impersonal way, she gets in touch with a single man with a sagging couch and a lack of energy. Due to a barking dog, the telephone contact between this unlikely twosome is intensified and eventually even results in a meeting.
