Writing

Maarten Lebens

Known for

Writing

Credits

19 titles

Known for

Tuscan Wedding poster
5.0

Tuscan Wedding, the new romantic comedy from the creators of Loving Ibiza. Together with her father Tom and stepmother Marla, Sanne runs Casa Matrimonio, a luxurious villa in sunkissed Italy. The estate is located in Tuscany, a beautiful region where many couples go to have their perfect wedding. In Casa Matrimonio guests come together to celebrate love and life. A Tuscan Wedding is the apotheosis of everyone’s visit to the country side. And for some the villa is all too familiar as they return again and again: because some people only marry twice.

Tuscan Wedding

2014

Monkey Business poster
6.8

In an orphanage around the year 1900, the principal of an orphanage tries to earn some money by selling the orphans for child labour. The moment we step in the story one of the orphans, Wim, is about to be sold to a brutal man. The man wants Wim to go to the market with a little monkey to pickpocket people. By the time they get to the market, Wim succeeds in escaping with the monkey by hiding in an old canalboat with the help of Jet, a girl who lives at the countryside. When they arrive at the farm where Jet lives, he meets Jets little sister Sien and her friend Ot, two little children who will take care of Wim and the monkey for the next weeks. When the brutal man finally finds out the hiding place of Wim, a true chase follows and Wim is locked up in the orphanage again. But then Jet’s father, a schoolteacher, interferes…. A story for the whole family about the start of the compulsory school attendance in 3D!

Monkey Business

2015

No artwork available
NR

Elegant, short film introduces the lonely, contact-craving museum attendant Vera. One cold winter night, after another day of silently watching visitors in the museum, she finds a sleeping drifter in her doorway. She decides to take pity on him. First, she gives him a blanket and a thermos of tea; not much later the key to her house. Using chocolate as her main means of communication, she unchains an extraordinary dialogue.

Vera

2008

Pregnant poster
4.5

Shy student Tyn gets the fright of his life when he finds out he is pregnant.

Pregnant

2015

Loving Ibiza poster
4.9

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.

Loving Ibiza

2013

Achttien poster
9.0

Koen is a fatherless, eighteen year old boy who wants to free himself from the suffocating relationship with his mother. He struggels with the balance between independency and love. When he meets Colet, he tries to keep his distance, but she is both anarchistic and audacious. She does not understand the fact that Koen does not have the slightest curiosity about his unknown father. It is because of her that he begins the search for his father.

Achttien

2002

Behind the camera

Tuscan Wedding poster
5.0

Tuscan Wedding, the new romantic comedy from the creators of Loving Ibiza. Together with her father Tom and stepmother Marla, Sanne runs Casa Matrimonio, a luxurious villa in sunkissed Italy. The estate is located in Tuscany, a beautiful region where many couples go to have their perfect wedding. In Casa Matrimonio guests come together to celebrate love and life. A Tuscan Wedding is the apotheosis of everyone’s visit to the country side. And for some the villa is all too familiar as they return again and again: because some people only marry twice.

Tuscan Wedding

2014

Monkey Business poster
6.8

In an orphanage around the year 1900, the principal of an orphanage tries to earn some money by selling the orphans for child labour. The moment we step in the story one of the orphans, Wim, is about to be sold to a brutal man. The man wants Wim to go to the market with a little monkey to pickpocket people. By the time they get to the market, Wim succeeds in escaping with the monkey by hiding in an old canalboat with the help of Jet, a girl who lives at the countryside. When they arrive at the farm where Jet lives, he meets Jets little sister Sien and her friend Ot, two little children who will take care of Wim and the monkey for the next weeks. When the brutal man finally finds out the hiding place of Wim, a true chase follows and Wim is locked up in the orphanage again. But then Jet’s father, a schoolteacher, interferes…. A story for the whole family about the start of the compulsory school attendance in 3D!

Monkey Business

2015

No artwork available
NR

Elegant, short film introduces the lonely, contact-craving museum attendant Vera. One cold winter night, after another day of silently watching visitors in the museum, she finds a sleeping drifter in her doorway. She decides to take pity on him. First, she gives him a blanket and a thermos of tea; not much later the key to her house. Using chocolate as her main means of communication, she unchains an extraordinary dialogue.

Vera

2008

Pregnant poster
4.5

Shy student Tyn gets the fright of his life when he finds out he is pregnant.

Pregnant

2015

Loving Ibiza poster
4.9

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.

Loving Ibiza

2013

Achttien poster
9.0

Koen is a fatherless, eighteen year old boy who wants to free himself from the suffocating relationship with his mother. He struggels with the balance between independency and love. When he meets Colet, he tries to keep his distance, but she is both anarchistic and audacious. She does not understand the fact that Koen does not have the slightest curiosity about his unknown father. It is because of her that he begins the search for his father.

Achttien

2002

The Letter for the King poster
5.9

Young Tiuri has to pass the final test before before being knighted by king Dagonaut. He has to pass a night in the chapel, what is suddenly disturbed by a strangers request of help. With his decision to help the stranger, Tiuri abandons his given task and starts into an adventure, that will shape the destiny of Dagonaut. On his journey he learns about the true meaning of love, friendship, courage and loyalty.

The Letter for the King

2008

Wild Romance poster
5.7

The start of the career of Herman Brood, who lived his life filled with sex, drugs and rock 'n roll. Guided by his manager they aim to take over the USA with his music.

Wild Romance

2006

Orange Fever poster
4.7

As the whole country is preparing for the World Cup, all characters are confronted with the Dutch ‘Orange Fever’, which seems to either bring them closer together, or drift them apart.

Orange Fever

2018

The Hell of '63 poster
6.0

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.

The Hell of '63

2009

Polleke poster
7.0

An outspoken eleven-year-old must navigate first love, family turmoil and cultural expectations when she falls for her Moroccan boy next door.

Polleke

2003

Picnic with Cake - The Tale of a Brave Little Fox poster
NR

Animation with animals going for a picknick

Picnic with Cake - The Tale of a Brave Little Fox

2013

De sterkste man van Nederland poster
5.4

Twelve-year-old Luuk Bos has always believed that his father is the Strongest Man in the World. His mother Dorien, who raised him on her own, used to tell him the most wonderful stories about it. During a visit to a local Strongest Man competition, he meets a participant, René Doornbos, who, like him, has red hair. Luuk thinks he has found his father.

De sterkste man van Nederland

2011

Rhubarb poster
7.6

Sometimes it takes a child or two to fix the adult problems! Siems mother and father are divorced , but his father Rik has found love again , and be married to Winnie's mother Tosca . Siem loves Winnie , so when the relationship between Rik and Tosca begins to creak, devises the two children , a plan designed to get parents to get back together ; they make a movie with good advice about love . And what a movie ! The small movie clips bubbles of love and creativity , both in front of and behind the camera . We will diligently around the genres when Siem and Winnie must interpret many of love . A sweet , funny and sensitive film that is about to stick together and keep each other - and each other's differences , not least .

Rhubarb

2014

Happy Family poster
5.6

Thijs is a ripe-age Dutch tomato grower. His adult daughters plan to have him move in a skyscraper-flat, leaving home and professional life, but he takes his adolescent (half-)Moroccon grandson Omar's advice to refuse and keep living. Thijs even lets the cheerful rascal coach his love-life, which lands him on a blind date with Jacky, an energetic Flemish woman, who won't take no for an answer but turns up at his door-step till he consents, and soon drags him into evening life, preparing for a dance contest. Soon after Omar turns up, listless and lazier then ever, runaway from school and home. The obvious reason for the horny hound's hanging head is a girl: Mergal is foxy, Turkish and as smitten as he, but her burly big brother Erhan will only allow a boy to go steady with her who has proven himself his better on the field in the traditional manly sport of oil-wrestling. Now Thijs...

Happy Family

2006

Scratches in the Table poster
6.7

When Madelief's grandmother dies, her mother takes her to the funeral. She then visits her grandfather, but quickly gets bored, until Mischa tells her how much fun a rural summer can be. She investigates her grandmother's "summer house", made curious by the lock on the door. Madelief didn't remember her grandmother, but from her snooping in the summer house she learns a lot about her. Written by Steve Schonberger

Scratches in the Table

1998

The Book of Everything poster
6.2

The 1960s, Netherlands. Thomas doesn’t realise it yet, but he has special powers. The nine-year-old sees things others cannot. He lives in a strict, religious family where his father, quick to cite the word of God, often resorts to violence. As a sense of injustice grows within him and a longing for freedom takes hold, Thomas begins writing his Book on Everything. In it, he wishes for his father’s punishment and encounters a host of unusual characters: Jesus Christ, a levitating lady with a piano-loving cat, tropical fish swimming in city canals, a young peg-legged witch living next door, and many others.

The Book of Everything

2024

Young Kees poster
8.0

Little boy Kees is based on the famous classical masterpiece by Theo Thijssen and deals with a twelve year old Amsterdam schoolboy who grows up at the end of the 19th century in the Jordaan (part of Amsterdam. Kees Bakels is a dreamer who seeks refuge from reality with wild imagination where he dares more than in real life. Through his fathers illness and his young love for Rosa Overbeek he develops himself as someone who acts and assumes responsibility.

Young Kees

2003

The Finnster poster
4.0

Finn (15) is an uncomplicated schoolboy until one day, coming home from school, he catches his father Roelof in his moms dress. The man Finn has looked up to his whole life, wants to become a woman. Finn, just discovering his own sexuality, is troubled by this new discovery. A struggle with feelings of shame, love and loyalty follows. Luckily Lizzie, his newfound friend, is there to help him.

The Finnster

2010