Celebrating Cinema

For the final Future Frames episode, filmmaker Kiriko Mechanicus talks with fellow filmmaker and good friend Razan Hassan, an upcoming documentarist who has recently won the Best Documentary Film award at the Shortcutz Film Festival for her film 'In Between Glass and Walls'. In their tender conversation, Hassan speaks about her teenage love for director Bernardo Bertolucci, the depths of t...

Sitting down with filmmaker, screenwriter, chef, and all-around powerhouse Amira Duynhouwer for a Future Frames interview, film critic Hugo Emmerzael dives into Duynhouwer’s wildly prolific career, her initial love for cinema and the tough lessons she had to learn to make it as a successful film professional. Ranging from Spielberg to Akira Kurosawa, from industry secrets to cinema inspirations, a...

Inspired by the experiences of a close friend, Davy Chou decided to make a film about her non-stereotypical adoption story, the likes of which we hardly ever get to see on screen. Speaking to host Sophie, Chou reflects on directing a film in a country and language that he wasn't familiar with, and the difficult process he went through as a male writer to create the strong Asian female lead cha...

Recognizing herself in Stefanie Kolk’s journey towards a career in film that started out in a different place entirely, filmmaker and podcast host Sophie Smeets invited the biophysicists-turned-filmmaker for her Future Frames interview. In this conversation, we gain an insight into the different elements that play a role in Kolk’s filmmaking. How her love for film started from watching films with...

For the second interview in our Future Frames series, Head Of Program Tom Ooms and his good friend, Amsterdam-based writer/director Kim Kokosky Deforchaux explore how Kim's childhood obsession with Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park propelled him to pursue a career in genre-filmmaking. In this hour-long, frank conversation, we get a glimpse of this future framemaker's trajectory toward b...

After watching Ashley Röttjers’ short film Celestial Spaces: A Liberation on Meditation Practices at an IDFA Meets event, Elliot was struck by the elegance and depth of Ashley’s work. Eager to learn more about this Rotterdam-based photographer turned filmmaker, Elliot invited Ashley as a future framemaker to watch for our Future Frames interviews. In this candid conversation, Ashley shares how wat...

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Alejandro Jodorowsky's mystical magnum opus The Holy Mountain, three classics by the controversial Chilean surrealist return to cinemas in the Netherlands nationwide. With Sophie replacing producer Elliot, who will be traveling the world for a while, our hosts Tom, Kiriko, and Hugo discuss the impact of 60s and 70s transgressive cinema, the heritage of the count...

Following our first live and very animated podcast recording, our hosts, along with our audience, discussed the relevance of cult classic Twilight; a film that showcases a darkly stylish depiction of female desire wrapped inside an inherently silly teen vampire romance. Like it or not this romance saga had us hooked from the beginning and was undoubtedly a cinematic marker in all our lives, one wa...

In anticipation of our first live podcast event where we will be revisiting the iconic Twilight (2008), we had the absolute pleasure to speak with director Catherine Hardwicke. Architect of this cultural phenomenon, Catherine recounts how she landed the role and the casting process that launched the careers of its stars, Kristen Stewart & Robert Pattinson. In this hour-long interview, we explo...

Very few director's have their own adjective: Lynchian. But then again, there are very few directors like David Lynch. Walking the tightrope between the mainstream and the avant-garde, Lynch brought to the screen a singularly dark and disturbing view of reality. A nightmare world punctuated by defining moments of extreme violence, bizarre comedy, and strange beauty, his dreamlike films have conjur...

Take a trip down the dark alleys of Film Noir, filled with unscrupulous men, state corruption and crimes waiting to be solve. Listen to our hosts' favourite urban thrillers, as they try to figure out what Film Noir even is. A genre? A style? Or a mode of production that dominated Hollywood post World-War II. Inspired by our current program Tales From Nightmare Alley, we dive deep into this infamou...

As part of our new partnership with Mubi, we had the exclusive chance to speak with Artist-turned-filmmaker Amalia Ulman about her feature debut El Planeta. This dark comedy, set in Amalia's childhood town Gijon, is a fresh twist on the precarious economic conditions the working-class can find themselves in. In this candid interview Amalia shares what it was like to make her first film, co-starrin...

Widely regarded as the bald bad boy of contemporary French cinema, Gaspar Noé has been disrupting movies and polarising opinions for the past twenty years with his visceral blend of provocative films. Joining filmmaker Kiriko, Gaspar discusses his latest film Vortex (2021), as well as his experiences working with legendary Italian 'giallo' maestro Dario Argento and his love for Tokyo, as depicted...

Have you ever wondered what made French director Jean-Luc Godard so great? Or did you never quite understand what exactly the 'French Nouvelle Vague' was? Well in true Godard-fashion, this is a real jump-cut style episode that untangles the life of a film genius. From his greatness to some ugly truths, this is a true ode to both a director and period of film that forever changed cinema.  With our...

Director Martijn de Jong joins producer Elliot to discuss his feature debut Narcosis. Selected as this year's Dutch Oscar entry, this tender portrayal of familial love & mourning gives our audience a window to Martijn's approach to filmmaking. With a desire to move people and connect with his audience, together they explore his journey as a director from commercials to his first feature. While...

As longtime admirers of Mia Hansen-Løve's body of work here on the podcast, producer Elliot hosts a very candid and revealing conversation with the French director. In her latest film Un Beau Matin, Mia describes it as her most auto-biographical film to date. Mia shares how she is able to explore such existential questions from such an intimate portrait. Find out what moves Mia to make films and w...

Directors Sarah Blok & Lisa Konno join to discuss their short trilogy of non-traditional immigrant story of fathers. With an exhibition at this year's Dutch Design Week and the release of their book, which you can buy here , we explore how this hybrid form of fashion-stylised documentaries can offer a more intimate portrayal of their subjects. Candidly, Lisa & Sarah share the inspiration b...

Joined by the programmers of Imagine Film Festival, the largest celebration for fantastic film in the Netherlands, showcasing the best in fantasy, horror and science fiction. Lauren & Stan along with Tom & Hugo reminisce their first turn down spooky lane. Along this nostalgic path of agreeable scarring, they question what really is a horror in today’s film landscape. With our partners Mubi...

If a loved-one decided they had enough of life and wanted it to come to an end, how would you respond? Director, Floor van der Meulen joins Elliot to explore her fictional feature debut Pink Moon that asks this very question of its audience. In this candid discussion, Floor and Elliot unpack the roots of desire for a self-determined death, is it a reflection of a disconnected and lonely society? W...

Are we witnessing the end of American mainstream cinema? Diving deep into this topic, Hugo invites filmmaker, film critic and video essay connoisseur Scout Tafoya. In collaboration with Tucker Johnson, Scout explores this very question with a compelling 10-part video-essay series through the lens of Ridley & Tony Scott as the forefathers of the American blockbuster. Why has Hollywood become so...

Find out how a particular holiday experience led director Christian Tafdrup to write his latest film Speak No Evil (2022). Out now here in The Netherlands, this suspenseful dark comedy about a holiday encounter between a Dutch & Danish family comes with a chilling twist. Speaking with Elliot, Christian shares how his playful approach to horror genre conventions helps create a truly visceral ex...

Here to discuss the mesmerising nature of volcanoes captured through the lens of Katia & Maurice Krafft, director Sara Dosa joins us for a candid talk about her latest documentary Fire of Love (2022). From a treasure trove of 200 hours worth of archival footage, Sara shares why she crafted a love story not only between two French volcanologists but also their life's work - volcanoes. Find out...

Here to discuss her latest film Splendid Isolation (2022) and the poetry of cinema, Urszula Antoniak candidly shares why this is a film to be experienced. A 73-minute allegory that invites us all to reflect on our collective confrontation with death in recent years. Find out why Urszula sees this as an uplifting story of our own mortality.

With Joanna Hogg's sequel to her highly autobiographical film The Souvenir (2019), we take a look at one of its stars - Tilda Swinton. There has always been a certain indefinable quality to her iconic acting, refusing to ever be type-casted to a particular role. Tilda has continued to evolve with her incredible range of performances, becoming the muse for many auteurs. What makes her otherworldly,...

Listen to Uberto Pasolini's journey to becoming a filmmaker. After leaving the banking industry early on to pursue a career in film, it was only a matter of time before Uberto would transition from producer to director. With his latest film Nowhere Special (2020), a tender portrait of an intimate father and son relationship, we hear how Uberto develops true stories into touching cinematic moments...