Holland Film Meeting Selections 2024

05 August 2024

The Netherlands Film Festival is proud to present this year’s selection of the 2024 Holland Film Meeting (HFM). A selection of fifteen widely varying Dutch productions has been chosen to participate at HFM 2024, which will take place on Friday 20 and Saturday 21 September.

In selecting this year’s projects, the HFM-team made a deliberate choice to feature quality over quantity. Recognizing the ever-growing importance for Dutch film professionals to find new and innovative ways to differentiate and position their productions, both nationally and internationally, HFM has decided to remodel. By stepping away from the format of a regular co-production market and moving towards a more service-based platform where positioning, visibility, and audience reach are at its core, the newly structured HFM will provide a new and collaborative programme for Dutch film professionals at the Netherlands Film Festival.

The fifteen productions, fourteen feature fiction films and one feature length documentary, are divided into three sub-programmes, based on the current stage of the project, namely Stories & Beyond, New Dutch, and The Dutch Gallery. With many international guests invited to attend the three programmes of HFM, it is bound to be a packed programme for our selected participants.

Stories & Beyond

Five projects have been selected for Stories & Beyond. In this programme, screenwriters and filmmakers with a project in the early stage of script development are invited to explore narrative developments and perspectives, based on the advice of (inter)national experts, creatives and industry professionals.

: Er Tin Tin
Feature fiction film | early script stage
Screenwriter/director: Abigail Prade
Logline: Suriname, 1982. Amidst the political turmoil of a military dictatorship, a family tries to maintain a semblance of normalcy while living under abnormal circumstances. Drawing from the tradition of oral storytelling, this film weaves together different stories from folklore and Surinamese history, while centring the experiences of one family in the 1980s.
The Familiar
Feature fiction film | early script stage
Screenwriters: Jochum ten Haaf and Micha Alexander
Director: Matthijs van Heijningen
Producer: Alain de Levita, Dark Alley Pictures
Logline: When a socially awkward familiar falls in love with the same girl his vampire master has chosen as his future bride, he has to choose between love and loyalty.
The Granddaughter
Feature fiction film | early script stage
Screenwriter/director: Nafiss Nia
Logline: Back in the Netherlands, Roya, a 27-year-old alternative medicine student in Korea, discovers that her beloved grandfather runs a smuggling network. As she struggles with family secrets and moral choices, she must decide whether to continue his dark legacy or choose her own path.
The Streak, the Muse and the Envy
Feature fiction film | early script stage
Screenwriter: Linda de Veer
Director: Dennis Nap
Producer: Linda de Veer, Fundashon di Kurason
Logline: While at his Curaçao-born best friend's deathbed, the Bonairian photographer promises to create a catalogue of his famous portraits of his wife. His admiration turns into disgust when he discovers that she served as a muse against her will.
Self Tape
Feature fiction film | early script stage
Screenwriter/director: Urszula Antoniak
Producer: Steven Rubinstein Malamud and Sacha Gertsik, GROM Productions
Logline: After an outburst of anger complicates Sybil's (38) Hollywood career. She returns to the Netherlands, her motherland, to try and keep up her image of a world-famous star, still wanted and desired. Soon after, she is confronted by a stalker - with whom she shares a secret from the past. Sybil tracks him down and uses her acting craft to take control over the unwanted link between him and her.

New Dutch

New Dutch is aimed at film teams (producer/director) with a project in an advanced script or research stage, who are looking to develop new ways to define, engage, and reach their intended audience, and to position their project to (inter)national platforms and audiences.

: Deep Love
Feature fiction film | advanced script stage
Director: Sophie Dros
Screenwriter: Emily Reekers
Producer: Paula van der Oest, Sunny Pictures
Logline: When Sam is reunited with his daughter after eighteen years, they not only feel a deep connection with each other, but also experience an overwhelming, confusing love.
Free Fall
Feature fiction film | advanced script stage
Director/screenwriter: Bregt Pepijn Verhagen
Producer: Fleur Knopperts and Denis Vaslin, Volya Films
Logline: While the health of his seriously ill father deteriorates, Joey becomes completely absorbed in the pursuit of achieving his dream physique in preparation for a bodybuilding competition. But at what cost?
Get Up Stand Up
Feature fiction film | pre-production
Director/screenwriter: Mari Sanders
Producer: Ineke Kanters and Lisette Kelder, The Film Kitchen
Co-producer: Dries Phlypo, A Private View
Logline: When cheerful Vera (23) finds herself in a wheelchair, she must reinvent her life. This doesn’t happen until she meets Xander (22), who has been in a wheelchair his whole life. Slowly, their friendship deepens and ultimately gives them a new perspective on life. This leaves Vera facing a dilemma: does she embrace her limitation, or does she work hard to become as ‘normal’ as possible?
Hêvi
Feature fiction film | advanced script stage
Director/screenwriter: Reber Dosky and Emily Reekers
Producer: Annemiek van Gorp and René Goossens, De Productie
Logline: When Sara, a prostitute from the city of Mardin, secretly takes care of a wounded Kurdish warrior, an impossible love unfolds between them. Impossible because both themselves as well as their strife and hate coloured environment, have actually lost sight of love.
Look Like Jackie
Feature documentary film | research stage
Director/screenwriter: In-Soo Radstake
Producer: Nadadja Kemper, Holland Harbour Entertainment BV
Logline: Filmmaker In-Soo Radstake, often recognized as movie star Jackie Chan, questions whether self-deprecation and humour could contribute significantly to the polarized debate on anti-racism.
Paradiso
Feature fiction film | pre-production
Director/screenwriter: Martijn Maria Smits
Producer: Wout Conijn, Conijn Film
Co-producer: Marc Goyens, Quetzalcoatl
Logline: Jayden’s parents have lost their house and their love for each other due to debts. When Jayden receives the same birthday present from both of them, and it can't be exchanged, the tension reaches a breaking point.

The Dutch Gallery

In collaboration with SEE.NL, The Dutch Gallery focuses on projects in the post-production phase, inviting producers and directors to hold a work-in-progress screening. Together with international and national distributors, sales agents, and festival programmers, scenes from various participants are discussed. The feedback provided may address the market value of the project, distribution opportunities, or the intended festival route.

: Vlam
Feature fiction film | post-production
Director: Daphne Lucker
Screenwriter: Rosita Wolkers
Producer: Derk-Jan Warrink and Koji Nelissen, Keplerfilm
Benelux distributor: Vedette Film
Dovetail
Feature fiction film | post-production
Director/screenwriter: Vincent Tilanus
Producer: Loes Komen and Eva Verweij, Room for Film
Co-producer and Dutch broadcaster: HUMAN

Porte Bagage
Feature fiction film | post-production
Director/screenwriter: Abdelkarim El-Fassi
Producer: Asma El-Fassi, Zouka
Fabula
Feature fiction film | post-production
Director/screenwriter: Michiel ten Horn
Producer: Sander Verdonk, Thomas den Drijver, New Amsterdam Film Company
Co-producer: Mariano Vanhoof, Fobic Films bvba & Harry Flöter and Jörg Siepmann, 2Pilots

PARADISO

Feature fiction film | pre-production

Director/screenwriter: Martijn Maria Smits
Producer: Wout Conijn, Conijn Film
Co-producer: Marc Goyens, Quetzalcoatl

Logline: Jayden’s parents have lost their house and their love for each other due to debts. When Jayden receives the same birthday present from both of them, and it can't be exchanged, the tension reaches a breaking point.

About the Holland Film Meeting

Since 1998 the Holland Film Meeting (formerly also known as the Netherlands Production Platform) has been considered one of Europe’s must-attend co-production, showcasing and development events, and generally acknowledged as an essential hub for the formation of strong ties between the Dutch and international film industries, as well as strengthening the Dutch audiovisual industry.