Languages Archives: Dutch

< Back to Summer Screenings page

Zurich

  Sacha Polak

  The Netherlands      2015    

Synopsis

Adrift and searching, Nina wanders Europe in an attempt to flee her painful past. While taking refuge at a rest stop, she befriends Matthias, a German trucker and the two form a bond. As their intimacy intensifies, memories of her former life begin to haunt her. What is she running from? Steeped in mystery, Zurich is a nuanced portrait of trauma, love, and healing.

 Dutch, German with subtitles 
  89 minutes

Screenings & Events

In-person Screening

Wed, Jul 17 @ 6:30pm CDT

at Chicago Cultural Center

Tickets available Monday, July 8.

Media

Sponsors

Logo: Dutch Culture USA 150x150Logo: See NL / Eye Filmmuseum 160x85

< Back to main Festival page

Shorts 2: Animation – Desires

  Various

  Argentina, Belgium, France, Hungary, Israel, Mexico, The Netherlands, United States     76 minutes

Synopsis

These animated shorts create an idiosyncratic mosaic of the difficulties, joys, enigmas, and triumphs of the human experience. Featuring works by Nienke Deutz, Osman Cerfon, Patricio Plaza, Flóra Anna Buda, Tzor Edery, Tom Prezman, Vishavjit Singh, and Ryan Westra.

The Miracle (Belgium, The Netherlands, France) is a hotel where Irma, a 40-year-old woman surrounded by families, tries to find comfort in her solitary life. Children display varied emotions with a singular expression in Aaaah! (France). An ailing priest in the Mexican colonial era is given a medicine that confronts him with his spiritual ailments in Carne de Dios (Argentina, Mexico). On the day that Alice turns 27 (France, Hungary), a drunken accident makes her question the choices she has made in her life thus far. Remembrances of a former drag queen’s experience in one of the first queer bars in Paris are imaginatively told in Maurice’s Bar (France, Israel). Based on true events, American Sikh (U.S.) tells the story of a courageous man in post-9/11 New York City who faced prejudice and racism with humor and heroism.

 Arabic, Dutch, English, French, Hungarian, Spanish with subtitles 

Content Considerations
Violence, gendered violence, and racial violence
Learn about Festival content considerations...

Screenings & Events

Virtual Screening

This program will be available to stream from October 16 at 12:00pm CT to October 22 at 11:59pm CDT.

Sponsors

Accessibility Partner

logo: Periscope Post & Audio 308x100

< Back to main Festival page

A woman looks at her phone in a hotel lobby. Behind her, we see other guests sitting.

The Miracle [short film]

  Nienke Deutz

  Belgium, The Netherlands, France     15 minutes

Synopsis

Irma, a 40-year-old woman surrounded by families, tries to find comfort in her solitary life in a hotel called The Miracle. Crafted with an inventive physical animation technique, this funny and frank short explores the complicated terrain of finding happiness as a single adult.

This film screens as part of the Shorts 2: Animation – Desires program.

  

 Dutch, English with subtitles 

< Back to main Festival page

A very disheveled pregnant woman sits on a rock by a waterfall, looking at the shirtless man lounging next to her.

Sweet Dreams

  Ena Sendijarević

  The Netherlands, Sweden, Indonesia     102 minutes

Synopsis

Indonesia, 1900. In the waning days of the colonial era, Dutch sugar plantation owners Jan and Agathe lord over an estate simmering with imminent rebellion. When Jan suddenly drops dead, Agathe forces their son and his pregnant wife to travel from the Netherlands to take over the family business. But when she discovers that Jan has left the estate to his Indonesian concubine Siti and their young son, both sides of the estate will go to extremes in order to survive.

Featuring scathingly sharp performances and set against a lush visual landscape with indelible metaphoric images, Sweet Dreams is an incisive and surreal satire that marvels at the absurdity of the colonial nightmare.

 Dutch, Indonesian with subtitles 

Screenings & Events

Media

Film Credits

  •   Erik Glijnis, Leontine Petit; co-produced by: Erik Hemmendorff, Kristina Börjeson, Martien Vlietman, Mandy Marahimin
  •   Ena Sendijarević
  •   Lot Rossmark
  •   Emo Weemhoff
  •   Renée Soutendijk, Hayati Azis, Lisa Zweerman, Florian Myjer, Muhammad Khan, Hans Dagelet, Rio den Haas
  •   Martial Foe
  •   Judy Tossel, Laurent Médéa, Ena Sendijarević
  •   Lemming Film, Plattform Produktion, VPRO, Film ï Vast, Tala Media

Sponsors

New Directors Program Sponsors

Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation

< Back to main Festival page

A child in a snowsuit lays down on a snowy hill surrouded by people going up and down with sleds.

Occupied City

  Steve McQueen

  The Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States     262 minutes

Synopsis

The past collides with our precarious present in Steve McQueen’s bravura documentary Occupied City. From the streets of Amsterdam, McQueen creates two interlocking portraits: a vivid journey through the last years of pandemic and protest, and a door-to-door excavation of the Nazi occupation that still haunts his adopted city. What emerges is both devastating and life-affirming, an expansive meditation on memory, time, and where we’re headed.

 Dutch, English with subtitles 

Screenings & Events

Film Credits

  •   Floor Onrust, Steve McQueen, Anna Smith-Tenser, Bianca Stigter
  •   Bianca Stigter
  •   Xander Nijsten, Steve McQueen
  •   Lennert Hillege N.S.C.
  •   Oliver Coates

Sponsors

Film Supporters

Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation