Best Dutch Documentary Short

#lockdocs Free as a Bird

What is it like under lockdown in the Netherlands, Spain, Italy or France? 14 Dutch children living in different places around the world filmed their own situation. They show and talk about what they do, think, miss or like, how they are taught, celebrate their birthday and how they are bored stiff.

Many things are the same, yet Maiza from Almere is afraid for her brother who has cancer, and Mika in Italy can’t see his mother, a nurse, for a long time. Tessa’s mother in Amsterdam caught Covid-19 and became severely ill, and Julliette from Alkmaar cannot cuddle her father because he is a member of a high-risk group. However, there are also positives: for instance, Lucia has had to move with his family to the Spanish countryside and is having loads of fun with his brothers and sisters. Ariana is nuts about dancing. She trains four times a week, takes part in contests and is basically always dancing, even in the back garden or her room. She also has a super sweet dog called Mikey. Nothing suggest that Ariana is actually really ill. Her kidneys don’t work properly, and she needs a new one. Together with her older brother she tries to shoot a video about herself in which she appeals for a donor. This is very hard for her: ‘I’d prefer to forget about it all. I don’t want people’s pity,’ she explains. Shooting the video made her illness much too real.

We not only witness how Ariana shoots a video, but also how she lives. How she dances, sleeps on the couch, and goes to hospital with her mother to talk about her kidneys. Ariana might be ill; she is far from piteous.

SANNE ROVERS

THE NETHERLANDS | 2020 | 22’ | 8+

FACTS

Producer Ilja Roomans Screenwriter Sanne Rovers Editor Sonja ten Boom, Daan Wierda Composer Tobias Borkert Production company docmakers, The Netherlands, info@docmakers.nl, www.docmakers.nl

ANNELIES KRUK

THE NETHERLANDS | 2021 | 12’ | 8+

FACTS

Producer Willem Baptist, Nienke Korthof, Screenwriter Annelies Kruk Editor Saskia Kievits Production company Tangerine Tree, The Netherlands, info@tangerinetree.nl, www.tangerinetree.nl

Hammoudi’s Dream

Hammoudi’s droom

Mohammed, nicknamed Hammoudi, went through a lot to reach the Netherlands. He walked almost all the way to Europe from Syria with his older brother when he was 14. The two of them avoided dangers like wild animals, mine fields and border guards. His dream of going to school in the Netherlands and becoming a doctor kept him alive.

Now 17, he looks back at three years in the promised land. The time passed a lot less well than he had hoped: there were problems learning the language and the procedures for being allowed to stay are interminably long. However, the worst thing is that he misses his mother and sisters who he left behind in Syria terribly. He does everything he can to get them to the Netherlands.

Julieta & the Turtles in the Plastic Soup

Julieta & de schildpadden in de plastic soep

14-year-old Julieta lives on the Caribbean island of Curaçao and prefers being under water to being above it. The wondrous, exciting world of the ocean feels like home to Julieta. There things have come to a standstill. Alongside meeting turtles and countless species of fish, she is increasingly confronted by the large quantities of plastic waste on the seabed, and this makes Julieta super angry. The fishing nets, the plastic and the consequences of climate change threaten life in the ocean.

Together with other volunteers on Curaçao, Julieta tries to do what she can: she saves sea turtles in need and attempts to improve their habitat. However, the harder she works, the more she realises that her work is just a drop in the ocean. Sometimes staying positive and believing a better future is possible, is very hard.

ELS VAN DRIEL, EEFJE BLANKEVOORT

THE NETHERLANDS | 2021 | 27’ | 9+

FACTS

Dutch title Hammoudi’s droom Producer Laura Verduijn Screenwriter Els van Driel Editor Francesco Indaco Composer Rui Reis Maia Production company Prospektor, The Netherlands, info@prospektor.nl, www.elsvandriel.nl / www.prospektor.nl

MIRJAM MARKS

THE NETHERLANDS | 2020 | 15’ | 8+

FACTS

Dutch title Julieta & de schildpadden in de plastic soep Producer Willem Baptist, Nienke Korthof Editor Milika de Jonge Composer Ralph Durgaram Production company Tangerine Tree, The Netherlands, info@tangerinetree.nl, www.tangerinetree.nl

The Shell You Own

Ieders schild

Having a chronically ill or severely handicapped brother or sister is hard. Filmmaker Floor van der Meulen knows all about that, but also wanted to investigate how other people experience this situation. To this end, she dreamt up the animated tortoise Wisse Weetalles. She then used the character to collect stories from three children who have a brother or sister who needs a lot of attention due to an illness or handicap.

The children film their daily lives and interview their friends and family. They, for instance, talk about what they think of the situation and whether they think it is very different to that in other families. The stories reveal that many children struggle with the same issues, yet that they also accept that they just have to live with the situation. And, sometimes, having a brother or sister like this has its advantages.

Why Didn’t You Stay for Me?

Waarom bleef je niet voor mij?

Filmmaker Milou Gevers was ten when her mother jumped in front of a train. Ten years later, she talks to four children aged between ten and 13, whose fathers all committed suicide. Milou asks questions no one else would dare ask and Rebekka, Stef, Hessel and Annabel often explain (for the first time) how things went, whether they are angry or scared that their mother will do the same.

The conversations, which focus solely on the children, alternate with snippets of stop-motion doll animation depicting what Milou and the interviewees went through: from the angry woods to the mountain of major worry to the nest of memories. The film shows that no one is ever truly alone with their massive grief and that, step by step, life carries on.

FLOOR VAN DER MEULEN

THE NETHERLANDS | 2021 | 26’ | 8+

FACTS

Dutch title Ieders schild Producer Floor van der Meulen Screenwriter Floor van der Meulen Editor Floor van der Meulen Composer Jesse Enzler

MILOU GEVERS

THE NETHERLANDS | 2020 | 25’ | 11+

FACTS

Dutch title Waarom bleef je niet voor mij? Producer Annerose van Strijen, Quita Ruijgrok Screenwriter Milou Gevers Editor Richelle van Loon Composer Nikolaï Clavier Production company Netherlands Film Academy, The Netherlands, info@filmacademie. nl, www.filmacademie.nl Sales company Kapitein Kort, The Netherlands, info@kapiteinmedia.nl, www.kapiteinmedia.nl