Astrid Bussink

The “Kindertelefoon” (Child Helpline) in the Netherlands provides a listening ear. One girl talks about being home alone virtually all week; another’s sad because her parents are getting divorced. A boy in an asylum seekers’ center is worried about the future, while another boy doesn’t want to be gay and hopes these feelings will pass. Every day, the Kindertelefoon takes calls like these from children who want someone to talk to. But children also call to talk about their pets, to practice their audition for The Voice Kids or to make pranks. The recordings of these phone conversations are accompanied by images that quite literally give color to the conversations, and that beautifully reflect their tone—sometimes hilarious or naughty, but more often sad or heartrending.

Giovanni's dream is to become the first boy to compete in the Dutch synchronized swimming championship. He's got just one more exam to go.

Giovanni's dream is to become the first boy to compete in the Dutch synchronized swimming championship. He's got just one more exam to go.

Youth documentary about four boys from Westkapelle. Two of them are preparing for the exciting transition to secondary school - far from the intimacy of their shielded Zeeland village. Every summer, the bosom friends invariably play on the beach and watch tourists pour into their village from behind the watchtower, where the outside world starts. Will this be the last summer holiday that the foursome strike out together? Will their companionship change, now that the two older boys go to another school?

In this ego documentary, Astrid Bussink returns to Enschede, the Dutch city she left on the day of the firework disaster in 2000 that killed twenty-two and left nearly a thousand wounded. She moves into an apartment with a view of the memorial and tries to come to terms with the disaster.

The oldest primate laboratory in the world, located in the enchanting former Soviet republic of Abkhazia, was virtually destroyed during its struggle for independence from Georgia. But the lab workers refuse to give up their lab and have come up with a new idea to restore it to its former pride and glory. With the help of their renowned former director Professor Lapin they hope to put their institute back on the map. The Lost Colony follows their efforts, made with boundless confidence and unwavering hope, against all odds.

The oldest primate laboratory in the world, located in the enchanting former Soviet republic of Abkhazia, was virtually destroyed during its struggle for independence from Georgia. But the lab workers refuse to give up their lab and have come up with a new idea to restore it to its former pride and glory. With the help of their renowned former director Professor Lapin they hope to put their institute back on the map. The Lost Colony follows their efforts, made with boundless confidence and unwavering hope, against all odds.

The Angelmakers is a 2005 documentary that provides insight into the epidemic of arsenic murders by women, known as The Angel Makers of Nagyrév, in 1929. The film is shot on location in the rural Hungarian village of Nagyrév, alternating between portraits of the surrounding landscape and first-hand narrations by the elderly inhabitants.