Willeke van Ammelrooy

Documentary on the Dutch filmmaker Dick Maas.

In the splendidly decorated barbaric world of Antwerp, an ordinary lonely Lucien has an inhuman capability to stick metal objects to his body. An introverted Buster Keaton-like man of a few words is a hapless artist, clown, freak, and musician with a wounded heart and a quiet violin. His vocation is to entertain the common people despite his burning pain and guilt for the inevitable loss of an estranged father.

Kevin is a young footballer who recently made a multimillion deal by transferring to FC Barcelona. He hardly realizes what is happening to him. Too young, too rich, too beautiful. His girlfriend Elza knows how Kevin should spend his millions. She is eagerly anticipating her birthday where Kevin will ask her the most important question of all. Kevin's grandmother Karla observes it all from the sidelines with concern. Fortunately there is the down-to-earth event planner Lizzy who shows Kevin the meaning of true love.

Life Is Wonderful is a feel-good movie about love and longing. Best friends Mees and Boelie are spending a beautiful spring day in Amsterdam's Vondelpark. It seems like just a normal day, until they meet the young and attractive Panda. While the heat rises in the park, it's nowhere to be found between the long-married couple Etta and Ernst-Jan. Ernst-Jan suspects Etta of cheating and has his own ideas of how to catch her in the act. We also meet Rosa and Kees, old lovers whose paths cross after decades of not seeing each other. On this spring day in Amsterdam, their love starts blooming again.

"Pim is more consummate," actress Willeke van Ammelrooy concluded upon seeing Pim de la Parra again in Suriname, at the presentation of the restored version of his film Wan Pipel. This marked the end of her disagreement with the director, which arose during the making of this film, some 35 years ago now. The charming director doesn't seem like the kind of man you can stay angry with for long. Wan Pipel turned out to be a watershed in the career of this headstrong filmmaker, who shook up the Dutch film world in the late 1960s. Although he went on to fight back with his so-called "minimal movies," he would never again get the opportunities his talent and inventiveness deserved. In Parradox In-Soo Radstake provides a personal portrait of De la Parra, now 70 years of age, who after many adventures in the Netherlands has returned to his native Suriname. He discusses the major themes of his life and work, which for a long time coexisted: too many women, too little money, too much ego.

Everybody knew Marco Bakker as Holland’s most cherished operetta prince. Until that one moment in 1997. Everything changed. How do you keep going? In this intimate portrait, we get to know a completely different side of Bakker. For example, it turns out the singer has mastered not only the ‘light frivolous pieces’, but also the demanding classics, and together with his partner Willeke van Ammelrooij, he is forced to swap their fairy-tale castle for a humble terraced house in his native village Beverwijk.

When the elderly burlesque dancer Elvira wishes to see her deceased husband Jean one last time, it is the devil who comes to pick her up.

Fourteen-year-old Mara hires Max the detective to track down her missing mother. However, Max's son Sam and his friend Ortwin are very concerned because Max doesn't realize that Mara is a witch. Sam and Ortwin do everything they can to expose Mara.

When architect Alex Wyler moves into an unusual glass house on stilts over a lake, he discovers a note from the previous tenant in the mailbox--but no one's lived in the house for years. He replies and soon discovers that he's corresponding with a doctor named Kate Forster. Their correspondence, only through the 'magical' mailbox, turns romantic and their paths cross in unexpected ways, but when they try to truly connect, danger looms. They must try to unravel the mystery behind their extraordinary romance before it's too late.

A romantic drama that charts the lives of three women from different backgrounds, forever changed when they emigrate to New Zealand as war brides.

Leon Mortier, a wealthy publisher, whilst driving through the forest one day, stops when he sees Lulu walking down the long narrow road. She gets into the car. Leon is amused and intrigued by her. When he pulls off, suddenly out of nowhere a man appears in front of the car and Leon accidentally hits him. He decides to take them both home to recover. Leon falls madly in love with Lulu. Both Lulu and the man stay on with him in the house. Lulu's behavior is unpredictable. Leon becomes suspicious and paranoid about her. As he begins to suspect that his friends are being unfaithful with Lulu, he decides to throw a dinner party with some of his closest friends. During the dinner he wants to confront them with their infidelity and expel them all from his life with Lulu. But when he discovers his son in the arms of Lulu, he decides also to get rid of her, a plan which backfires in a most unexpected way.

When extreme weather suddenly hits the Netherlands in 1963, a 120-mile tour skating event taking place on natural ice forces its contestants to contend with life-threatening race conditions.

Story of two con men, Boorman and his younger assistant Laarmans, who are trying to sell companies their non-existing magazine.

Two young boy twins receive a boat of their own by a stroke of luck. It turns out to be very fast and they use their boat to help out their friends.

Comedy inspired by the true story of Dennis P, who became Holland's biggest diamond thief, when he walked away with the entire 20 million euros stock of an international diamond trader, using a microwave oven as a swagbag.

Suske and Wiske, Lambik, and Aunt Sidonia are staying at the Ganzehoeve estate. During a walk, Suske and Wiske find a wooden box containing a black stone. They give the stone to Sidonia, who sells it to the baron. The next day, Sidonia is lying in bed, seriously ill. "Anyone who tries to enrich themselves with the stone will die before the next full moon unless the stone is returned to the alchemist." Suske and Wiske must return the diamond to the alchemist at all costs. They enlist the help of Professor Barabas and use the time machine to flash back to the 15th century. This marks the beginning of an exciting quest.

A personal documentary by Denise Janzee, made in an attempt to get closer to her mother Willeke van Ammelrooy. On movie sets and on screen, Denise saw her mother cry, laugh and fight. At home, however, Willeke shut herself off when she was sad. “I’ll only come back out once I’m smiling again. Such is my way,” she used to say. The only time Denise really saw her cry was at the funeral of her father Leendert Janzee. He committed suicide when Denise was six years old. His decision to do so wasn’t unexpected, but his death nevertheless meant the ultimate loss for Willeke. She had wanted to let him live through her love. She feels defeated and locks herself in until she is ready to face the world again. Meanwhile she expresses herself through her characters. In this compelling film mother and daughter look back on this deciding and emotional period in their lives, illustrated by home movies.

"The Great Magician" - A portrait of Frans Zwartjes (1927-2017), sometimes called 'the most important experimental filmmaker of his time' by the American essayist Susan Sontag.

A family film, based on a well-known Dutch story from the Middle Ages. Mariken tells the compelling and poetic story of spirited young girl named Mariken. The orphan Mariken lives in a secluded forest with an eccentric old hermit. One day, she decides to leave her surroundings and sets off for town to buy a new goat. On her adventurous journey into the 'real' world, she finds out about the good and bad sides of people.

A Flemish family comes together in their maternal home. Oscar, the grotesque patriarch, his bedridden wife Magda, his feeble son Johnny and his daughter Julia, who's married to a Moroccan soccer player. There's something wrong with Magda, who's not only plagued by her physical decay, but also by visions of her dead sister Marleen.

After World War II, Antonia and her daughter, Danielle, go back to their Dutch hometown, where Antonia's late mother has bestowed a small farm upon her. There, Antonia settles down and joins a tightly-knit but unusual community. Those around her include quirky friend Crooked Finger, would-be suitor Bas and, eventually for Antonia, a granddaughter and great-granddaughter who help create a strong family of empowered women.

Placide's dad tells him on his deathbed he'll haunt Placide if he doesn't find a wife soon. Placide cautiously agrees, but he only wants to settle for a very beautiful woman. That might be easier said than done, since he is a vagabond. When he accidentally enters a photo shoot, Placide meets Sarah. He falls in love, but she is way out of his reach.

Ryder is a psychiatrist who can flawlessly analyze his clients' problems, but is hopelessly alone in solving his own mental distress. One day, Sleuth, a detective, bursts into Ryder's office with the news that Ryder is suspected of murdering three women. Ryder is unaware of any wrongdoing. However, he has received a mysterious letter announcing a murder, and Lizzy, his secretary, has disappeared without a trace. The confessions of a new patient set Ryder thinking. A verbal cat-and-mouse game ensues between Ryder and Sleuth, but it raises more questions than it answers. If the murders have been committed, what is the motive? And if there is no motive, can there be a suspect? Or has everything been staged? Perhaps by Sleuth or Ryder himself?

Katootje lives in Droogbaak, a very neat municipality. And the neatest people in the whole town are Katootje's father and the neighbor. Katootje, who is almost eight, would like a pet, but she is not allowed to have one, especially not when the queen is visiting Droogbaak and the mayor is organizing a cleanliness competition. So it is not very convenient that her anti-authoritarian aunt Gazeuse and her fiancé, the feisty inventor O.J., unexpectedly come to stay at the Loire. Fortunately for Katootje, things become more fun and exciting at home, and O.J. helps her father in the fight against the cheating neighbor. Still, it takes a while for her father to learn his lesson: there are more important things in life than peace, cleanliness, and regularity.

A lift technician finds himself drawn into a web of mystery and peril as he investigates the perplexing deadly accidents occurring in the elevators of a new office building.

A parody of anthropology, linguistics, and cultural imperialism. The film follows an unlikely team of linguists into the wilds of an ersatz Patagonia to study the last speakers of a dying language. That language apparently consists of a single word, which therefore means everything.

A stuntman relentlessly tries to win the favor of some female restaurant owners who are supposed to finance his karate school. In the end, his scam no longer works because the women gang up on him.

Maarten, a milquetoast bachelor living with his terminally ill mother, is haunted by a nightmare in which God tells him to lose his virginity or die within the week.

Lovable Amsterdam street urchin, 11 year old Ciske is nevertheless much in need of love as the Dutch 1984 title suggests. He is a scamp with a heart of gold. He causes havoc in the classroom pouring ink over his teacher yet when a polio-crippled boy joins the class Ciske is one of the only children to befriend him and is bullied as a result. His mother works in a bar and Ciske helps out often late into the night - his father is at sea and his mother supplements her income with prostitution. Ciske is also a very angry young man and he smoulders with rage at life's injustices.

Young Barend is worried about the safety of the sailing vessel he is on. The owner is an unscrupulous and stingy man who skimps on repairs and Barend becomes aware of this. Inevitably there is drama and tragedy. The film is set in an early 20th century Dutch fishing village with local period costume and colour.

Documentary exploring why Belgian television doesn't invest more money in Belgian cinema as is the case in e.g. the netherlands.

A wealthy French couple unable to bear children but determined to start a family agree to use an anonymous surrogate . Upon seeking a professional opinion on the matter, the couple is advised to seek out an anonymous surrogate. Though the procedure is a success, Jean-Paul becomes entirely consumed in his quest to discover the identity of the young woman (Willeke van Ammelrooy) who is currently carrying his child. Upon coming face to face with the ravishing young beauty, Jean-Paul initiates a torrid affair that will profoundly affect the lives of all involved.

A woman whose husband was murdered five years previously, is stalked by his killer, who wants to eliminate her as a potential witness. What he doesn't know is that the shock of his murder caused her to have amnesia, and she doesn't remember anything.

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

Back in his native Suriname to see his dying mother, an Afro-Surinamese student from the Netherlands’ former colony finds himself torn between his Amsterdam-based life with his white Dutch girlfriend and a future in his newly independent homeland when he falls for a local Hindostani nurse.

A Dutch pilot with a real passion for flying risks everything to keep his plane in the air.

Susan has chosen a hermit's life on a dilapidated farm over the shallowness of her previous jet set modeling life. When Anton, a hunky courier, comes along to pick her up for an assignment on the French Riviera, he's so fascinated by Susan's odd assortment of house guests that he decides to stay with them for a couple of days.

An Antwerp journalist finds his daily life increasingly disrupted by unexplained phenomena, such as an authentic letter from 1919 that refers to an event taking place at a much later date. Because these disturbances are consistently linked to the name “Joachim Stiller,” the journalist becomes obsessed with it. The resolution, which is closely tied to his traumatic experiences from the Second World War, takes place with a psychiatrist—and later at an abandoned railway station in an Antwerp suburb. Interwoven with this is a subplot about an Antwerp art dealer who believes he can become rich through a new form of painting. To achieve this, he takes a mentally disabled artist hostage. The narrative also follows various romantic entanglements involving the journalist, which ultimately lead to his happy experience of fatherhood.

Detectives Grijpstra and De Gier are sent to investigate the case of a man who apparently hanged himself in a center for oriental meditation. It is ruled as suicide and the case seems to be closed, but the same night there is an attempted break in. The investigation hits a dead end and everyone involved is a suspect. Based on the book "The Corpse in the Haarlemmer Houttuinen” by Jan-Willem van de Wetering.

The attack of a bank turns into a massacre, leaving many dead. The bandits flee, taking two young women hostage. Unfortunately for them, one of them is none other than the girl of Burke Malloway, the famous trapper.

The story of a man who goes out looking for hamburgers, while he has a beautiful steak at home. Frank and Eva can't live together, but can't live without each other either. Frank has sex with every woman he can get, while Eva wants to start a family.

Psychodrama. Black and white images of a mining area under the influence of a highly orthodox Catholicism in the 1930s are interspersed with color images of a protest action to save a small church.

The young Isabelle escapes from the orphanage and she adopted by two chaps on a caravan. They then meet by chance the posh family of Louise- who runs away with the three adventurers when confronted with the reality of having to marry a Belgian with a large moustache and a bald head. They find a dog. Later Louisa degenerates into a minor moment of sexual hedonism and multiplexing with the two chaps before they are all overwhelmed by the Armageddon that was WWI.

Heirs to a family fortune are invited to a Corsican villa, where sex and murder are always lurking around the corner.

A Nobel Prize winning professor tired with his life retreats to the woods and starts a colony for those looking to fulfill desires.

A woman as an object of poetic observation seen through the eager eye of the camera. Cinematic means are used to reflect the moods of women.

No synopsis available yet.

Well to do business man Pierre falls for the unpredictable and free spirited Toni. They begin a relationship, despite the fact that she's living with another man who is the father of her child.

Small-town doctor Angelino falls in love at first sight with schoolteacher Irene. Bram the Builder is in love with gypsy girl Katja. Neither of the two men know how to convey their feelings to the objects of their affection.

The film is an erotic farce that takes place in the 19th century in the United States and tells the adventures of John Keykett (owner of a saloon), Lulu (a prostitute) and Lucky Lucky ( the teacher).

Short film from 1970.

Burgler and master safe-cracker Glimmie is asked to find a young woman called Fanny by her rich stepfather Van Borsen. However, Glimmie remains suspicious of the man and decides that Fanny has to be protected by him and his pal 'De Bonk'. He is soon proved correct and winds up a scapegoat in Van Borsen's scheme. After his release from prison, Glimmie plans his revenge with some help from a young cleaning girl called Slofje.

First full-length experimental feature by filmmaker Zwartjes about an actress, played by Willeke van Ammelrooy, who during the whole film, in continuously changing moods, is busy in her room. Eventually, she is made an offer by telephone. But what offer does the actress get?

De Mantel der Liefde is a bizarre, over the top and at times hilarious settling of scores with the Catholic Church, commercial movie culture and 1970's petit bourgeois Dutch culture in general.

The Mayor of a small Flemish town is determined at all costs to save a unique bird sanctuary from a ruthless businessman who advocates a housing development on the site. The main story, though, centres on a childhood trauma that unites the two men and a dark femme fatale whom one desires and the other attempts to manipulate.

Joop is sleeping in the apartment of his friend Bernard. He is waken up by a woman who is looking for Bernard. Later they babysit the neighbor's granddaughter. A little short film from the Scorpio period. Jan de Bont behind the camera.

Alicia, a bored housewife, leaves her husband and children in search of adventure.

De Boer's own film adaptation of his series of four plays about the brothers Doc and Kil and their willing sister Gina, who maintain their own codes in the face of the bourgeois outside world until death literally follows.

Instructional film about the (former) biggest harbour in the world, with a hybrid format. Well known Ivens themes are revisited, like The Flying Dutchman in the fiction part of the film, who returns to the modern day Rotterdam, that has recovered very well after the devastating bombardments in the second world war.

No synopsis available yet.