Fons Rademakers

Hollywood by Bike

Documentary that looks back at 35 years of Dutch cinema, with Paul Verhoeven and others.

All Rebels

All Rebels paints a picture of the young people who congregated around Amsterdam’s Leidseplein square in the days before wider protest movements broke out in the late ’60s and the ’70s. They kicked against the powers that be through wild parties, jazz music, unconventional clothing, long hair, smoking marihuana, uninhibited dancing and free love.

Vrijdag

Hugo Claus rewrote and directed Friday as the cinematic version of his original 1969 play of the same name. Just as in the play, the story begins with the theme of incest, as the father Georges (Frank Aendenboom) returns from serving his jail sentence for that crime. Unlike the earlier play, however, the film does not emphasize that aspect of the story. When Georges gets home he finds out that his wife Jeanne (Kitty Courbois) has had an illegitimate child by a younger man, Erik (Herbert Flack), and now both of them must somehow try to return to a normal life, given their only too obvious lapses in moral judgment. As the husband and wife try hard to accommodate each other's failings and start to get to know each other again, Erik comes back into the picture. Now the three of them must resolve the deep-seated conflicts that brought them to this emotionally-wrought juncture of love and betrayal.

Mysteries

In the winter of 1891 a stranger arrives in a small coastal town on the Isle of Man. His presence soon disturbs the lives of the local inhabitants, especially the beautiful daughter of the parson.

Lifespan

Cult icon Klaus Kinski features in this dark and intriguing existential thriller. He plays the mysterious "Swiss Man" - ruthless industrialist Nicolas Ulrich - who is obsessed with a search for the elixir of life. He tricks a young American scientist into joining him on his demonic quest. A quest that ends in suicide, death and madness. The story takes place in the atmospheric European city of Amsterdam. Its winding alleys and ancient canals trap the characters in a labyrinthine maze as they find themselves manipulated like figures on a giant chess board.

Katie Tippel

In the late 19th century, a young woman moves to Amsterdam with her family and tries to make a living. Preyed upon by various men, she nonetheless rises in society.

Daughters of Darkness

Ostend, Belgium. In a decadent seaside hotel, Stefan and Valerie, a newlywed couple, meet the mysterious Countess Báthory and Ilona, her secretary.

Mira

The story of a small and conservative West-Flemish village opposing the construction of a bridge over the Scheldt.

Obsessions

A young medical student observes his neighbour's love life through a hole in his apartment wall.

The Enemies

The tribulations of an American GI during the Ardennes offensive and the people he encounters, keeps you riveted all the way through the unexpected ending. Great characters in a cold and snowy Belgium.