Summer, fall, winter. Veendam (the Netherlands), New York, Berlin. All across the world, people are changing places in search of a better, happier, freer, wealthier and sexier life. Foreigners follows three individuals in search of a new home and a new identity. Globalisation, however, is playing tricks on them. In a worldwide community, who is the Other? Neocolonism, alas, is not what it used to be either. Nor are prejudices and national pride. Let’s just hope that Jesse, Amy and Victoria will come up with something fancier.

featuring Polina Gladkova in the Berlin part

For many Tunisians Europe is the promised land that seems closer than ever since the Jasmine revolution. Separated by the Mediterranean sea, the other side represents an escape to a freer, more promising existence in the ‘real’ world. 22-year-old Abdallah, who works for meagre wages at a DVD shop in the centre of Tunis, also dreams of crossing the sea. He sells Western movies with a passion, movies that only strengthen his notion of crossing. During a holiday with his family at tourist seaside resort Sousse, Abdallah’s chances seem to take turn for the better. His westernized cousins, visiting from Nice, take him to a dance party in a disco. There he meets 36-year-old Anna. Will Abdallah succeed—like his father did in the past—in getting to Europe through a Dutch woman? Or will he have to find other ways out of his native country? And does he want to leave at all?

Die Welt paints an unpolished picture of a young Tunisian who longs for a Western dream reality. This slice-of-life story was partly based on the experiences of Dutch-Tunisian filmmaker Karim Alexander Pitstra and his family.

Peepshow, a film about wanting to watch and wanting to be watched.

Part 1 (teaser)
Bus driver Pattje has a lot of colleagues, but no friends nor any special girlfriend: he gets along fine watching internet porn in his one man apartment. Driving the bus on same dull countryside track for twenty-five years has made him some nice savings. One night, quietly surfing away on the world wide web, Pattje addresses Eastern European student Yelena, who does a little moonlighting as a webcam stripper. He offers her a considerable sum of money to come over to the Netherlands and move in with him for half a year. Although it’s clear that he doesn’t need her to do the dishes and dust the skirting, he will not get any more specific about his intentions. Yet, to his surprise, the bright young lady agrees to his unusual proposal. Money is not the first of her concerns. She simply likes to be watched.

Part 2 (teaser)
Nobody can get to pornstar Katya. She’s hardly ever any friendlier than expected, and transforms from playbunny into wheeler dealer as soon as she leaves the set. You’ve got to pay to watch and Sex Sells, and so the iron lady travels all across the continent to do costumer acquisition and build up her own future business imperium. Katya is her all fans’s wet dream, but what on earth does Katya dream of?

Premiere: Nederlands Film Festival, september 24, 2011

Bebop is a Dutch film. Bebop is also a style of jazz music, and it is both the style and the substance of this Dutch film. Bebop is a fairy tale. Bebop is about a young girl and the creeps that surround her. It shows her journey from aggressive city life to something that could be described as zen buddhism. Or not. Who knows. Bebop is an exploration of male sexuality, of anger and violence. Maybe it is about pedophilia, or just about a father that happens to drive a cool American car. Bebop contains a really nice scene that takes place in the woods. It is a film about wood and stone. Or about Converse All Star shoes, although the filmmakers were not sponsored by the manufacturer. They certainly wish they were. Bebop is a film about how teenagers interact, and shows what it is like to live in the Netherlands. Just like the film Holland did. Holland is the previous film by the man who also directed Bebop. Don’t be afraid, Bebop does not contain images of male genitals like Holland did, just the sounds they make. Which might be even more annoying. Or arousing. Who knows. This synopsis tries to be like Bebop, but it’s just some random thoughts about Bebop slapped together. Because the director of the film couldn’t figure out what his film is really about. Or maybe he does know, but doesn’t want to tell you. Because it’s his dirty little secret. Bebop might be about his dirty little secrets. Pay attention to the hidden clues and you’ll figure out what the film is about. All the pieces of the puzzle come together in a crucial flashback scene. After the flashback, everything is different. The young girl has changed. And in the end all shall be well. Or not.

cast:
Rokhaya Seck, Charley Hekkers, Kaz Schoonebeek, Harry Kuypers, Pieter Vink, Joren Molter, Karel Hermans, Marie Seck