Netherlands Film Production Incentive invests € 11.4 million in 26 films and 4 high-end tv-series

The Netherlands Film Fund has supported 30 out of the 35 applications for the Film Production Incentive in this round. These contributions will generate € 44.8 million in production expenses in the Netherlands across the entire spectrum of Dutch film professionals and film companies.

Upcoming application round 2025

The next application round for Netherlands Film Production Incentive is 6 May 2025. The Netherlands Film Production Incentive offers a financial contribution in the form of a cash rebate on the qualifying production costs that are demonstrably spent in the Netherlands.

Selected filmproductions in the first round of 2025

• Afterparty (Jean van de Velde)
• Bad Guys (Eva van Pelt)
• Behind the Green Curtain (Neasa Ní Chianáin)
• Carnaval (Flip van der Kuil)
• Coward (Lukas Dhont)
• Dansker (Jonas Poher Rasmussen)
• F*ck the Family (Nienke Römer)
• Get Up Stand Up (Mari Sanders)
• Get Used to It (Albert Jan van Rees)
  
• The Great Offensive (Victor D. Ponten)
• Hanna, the Wife of Hendrik (Ineke Houtkamp)
• Heysel 85 (Teodora Ana Mihai)
• Jonah Was Here (Nathalie Teirlinck)
• Juf Braaksel een de mysterieuze Verdwijning (Aram van de Rest)
• The Kidnapping of a President (Samuli Valkama)
  
• Killabees (Eché Janga)
• Lyrical Vengeance (Wendelien van Oldenborgh)
• Mehal Sefari (Abraham Gezahagne)
• Pa! (Sander Burger)
• Paradise (Bob Colaers)
• Planet Reed (Axel Gebauer)
• Rabbit Hayes (Jim O'Hanlon)
• Rutger, Thomas and Paco The Movie 2 (Hans Somers)
  
• School of Hope (Marjolein Busstra)
• Shakespeare Goes Armenian (Inna Sahakyan, Lilit Movsisyan)
• Swaggers (Lodewijk van Lelyveld)

Gehonoreerde high-end series eerste ronde:

• Hemelrijk (Lisette Donkersloot, Jim Taihuttu, Victor D. Ponten)
• The Machine – Hooked on Booking.com (Michiel van Jaarsveld)
• Pim & Pom on a Museum Tour (Gioia Smid)
• The Schiphol Diamond Heist (Flynn von Kleist)

For a full list of the titles, including credits and loglines, see below.

Afterparty (feature film)

Director: Jean van de Velde
Script: Jean van de Velde
Dutch producer: Sunny Pictures
Co-producer: Advantage Films Mauritius (MU)

Logline: Sometimes a sleep-deprived marriage can only be saved with a large amount of sleeping pills....

Granted support: € 463,419

Bad Guys (documentary)

Director: Eva van Pelt
Script: Eva van Pelt
Dutch producer: Bind & Willink
Co-producer: Clin d'oeil Films (BE)

Logline: The Dutch actor Hans de Kraker has been portraying the role of oppressor in Indonesian anticolonial hero films for years. Four Indonesian film professionals offer him guidance to break out of his impasse and confront him with the ghosts of the colonial past, both professionally and personally. Can Hans break out of his role by confronting these ghosts?

Granted support: € 215,958

Behind the Green Curtain (documentary)

Director: Neasa Ní Chianáin (IE)
Script: Neasa Ní Chianáin (IE)
Dutch producer: Docmakers
Lead producer: Soilsiu Teoranta (IE)

Logline: The leader of Ireland’s Green Party has pursued the dream of climate justice for over thirty years. But Eamon Ryan’s dream now has twin streams, as family brings new meaning to his quest.

Granted support: € 42,167

Carnaval (feature film)

Director: Flip van der Kuil
Script: Flip van der Kuil, Zoeteke Lugthart
Dutch producer: Kaap Holland Film

Logline: Four friends from Brabant, who live for carnival, see their party plans go awry when one of them unexpectedly has to look after his estranged daughter and Prince Carnival turns out to have evil intentions. Can the friends keep the girl safe and save carnival?

Granted support: € 784,000

Coward (feature film)

Director: Lukas Dhont (BE)
Script: Angelo Tijssens, Lukas Dhont (BE)
Dutch co-producer: Topkapi Films
Lead producer: The Reunion (BE)
Co-producers: Versus OPUS (BE), Lumen (FR)

Logline: Pierre, a young soldier is part of a team that provides the fighting soldiers with bombs, helmets and provisions. It's a place that initially seemed to be a gift, however it seems to cast a broader gaze on the destruction. In the camp he meets Francis whose responsibility it is to keep morals high with shows. Together they appear to escape from the circle of violence, even if it's only temporary.

Granted support: € 312,682

Dansker (animated feature film)

Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen (DK)
Script: Jonas Poher Rasmussen (DK)
Dutch co-producer: Submarine Animation
Lead producer: JaFilm (DK)
Co-producer: Doghouse (LU)

Logline: James has fled to Denmark from a dark past of war, loss and trauma in Turkey. His hope is to make a fresh start, lead a decent life and start a family, but the violence of his past follows him and he is slowly drawn into the criminal underworld. James must therefore confront both this violence and his trauma to save the remnants of the family he has left.

Granted support: € 527,678

F*ck the Family (feature film)

Director: Nienke Römer
Script: Yücel Kopal, Appie Boudellah, Kay Greidanus, Steef de Bot
Dutch producer: AM Pictures B.V.

Logline: In this family film we follow a dysfunctional family, in which every member struggles with personal dilemmas. The ties are not good but the family comes out of necessity together after the death of the middle son Ben (36). His last wish is for Said (38) and Bo (37) to accept custody of his daughter Emma (16), which is divisive within the family.

Granted support: € 389,670

Get Up Stand Up (feature film)

Director: Mari Sanders
Script: Mari Sanders
Dutch producer: The Film Kitchen
Co-producer: Neda Film (GR)

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?

Granted support: € 650,172

Get used to it (feature film)

Director: Albert Jan van Rees
Script: Maike Meijer
Dutch producer: Keplerfilm
Co-producer: Staragara (SI)

Logline: Actress M. loses her steady job in a police series and simultaneously faces a new challenge: mood swings, hot flashes and emotional outbursts - especially towards her lethargic son and sweet, but not to exciting, husband. Determinedly she tries to reinvent herself, to prove that she still has a future.

Granted support: € 1,091,898

The Great Offensive (feature film)

Director: Victor D. Ponten
Script: Maarten van der Duin
Dutch producer: Dark Alley Pictures
Co-producer Lunanime (BE)

Logline: The Great Offensive reveals new controversial insights into the necessary liberation of the South West Netherlands in the autumn of 1944. From the perspective of the feuding Allies, the unyielding Germans and the 'captured' local population, we tell in detail the bloody offensive that had to be won to liberate Europe.

Granted support: € 293,433

Hanna, the Wife of Hendrik (feature film)

Director: Ineke Houtkamp
Script: Jacqueline Epskamp
Dutch producer: Johan Nijenhuis & Co
Co-producer: Dingie (BE)

Logline: Twente, 1971: After the death of her beloved husband Hendrik, the headstrong Hanna is left alone to care for the farm and their two children. She is barely keeping her head above water and the impending land consolidation is killing her. She loses everything: her land, her cows and even her children. Despite the loss, right through her stubbornness, she manages to get up and embrace life again.

Granted support: € 818,661

Heysel 85 (feature film)

Director: Teodora Ana Mihai (RO)
Script: Lode Desmet (BE)
Dutch co-producer: Topkapi Films
Lead producer: Menuetto (BE)
Co-producers: Les Films du Fleuve (BE), Leitwolf (DE)

Logline: 1985, Heysel Stadium, Brussels. A football temple turns into a war zone in the run up to the cup final between Juventus and Liverpool, resulting in 39 deaths. In the catacombs beneath the stadium, there are arguments over life and death, responsibility and whether the European final should still be played...

Granted support: € 120,665

Jonah Was Here (feature film)

Director: Nathalie Teirlinck (BE)
Script: Nathalie Teirlinck (BE)
Dutch co-producer: Volya Films
Lead producer: Dewereldvrede (BE)
Co-producers: HOBAB (SE), Frakas (BE)

Logline: Overcome with grief, a divorced neurologist decides to stay in his deceased son's student house, where he slowly finds solace by living in both his son's student room and student life.

Granted support: € 139,553

Juf Braaksel en de mysterieuze Verdwijning (feature film)

Director: Aram van de Rest
Script: Michiel Peereboom
Dutch producer: AM Pictures

Logline: The movie is about the terrible Miss Braaksel, who, when she becomes school director, abolishes celebrating birthdays and school trips. Thijs and Lotte do not agree with this and try to chase Miss Braaksel out of school.

Granted support: € 297,517

The Kidnapping of a President (feature film)

Director: Samuli Valkama (FI)
Script: John Lundsten (FI)
Dutch co-producer: Labyrint Film
Lead producer: TACK Films (FI)
Co-producers: Bionaut (CZ), Münchhausen Films (EE)

Logline: Finland, 1930. A group of far-right extremist military officers start a revolution while blackout drunk. Based on a true story.

Granted support: €121,007

Killabees (feature film)

Director: Eché Janga
Script: Eché Janga
Dutch producer: Keplerfilm
Co-producer: A Private View (BE)

Logline: After a rip deal, Franklin (17) brings the gun home and gets caught by his aunt. She presents him with a hard choice: either he turns himself in or he goes to his father, still unknown to him, at Curaçao. On the island, he realises that family is what he has been looking for all along. When it turns out his behavior caused a threat towards his 'new' father and sister, he decides to fight for them.

Granted support: € 541,208

Lyrical Vengeance (documentary)

Director: Wendelien van Oldenborgh
Script: Wendelien van Oldenborgh
Dutch producer: Stichting Vriza

Logline: Lyrical Vengeance draws a parallel between three historical female writers from Japan, the Netherlands and Indonesia who resisted dominant patriarchal and nationalist politics, and contemporary movements waging a similar struggle. The film focusses on transnational solidarity from a queer feminist perspective, and art, life, and activism as hopeful forms of transformation.

Granted support: € 113,132

Mehal Sefari (feature film)

Director: Abraham Gezahagne (ET)
Script: Abraham Gezahagne (ET)
Dutch co-producer: New Ams Film Company
Lead producer: Abricom Multimedia (ET)
Co-producers: Gobez Media (CA), 2Pilots (DE), Barents Film (NO)

Logline: A politically apathetic ambulance driver collects bodies from the streets of Ethiopia’s capital during a mass killing in 1977. He is forced to choose a side when he finds the body of his own son.

Granted support: € 69,801

Pa! (feature film)

Director: Sander Burger
Script: Paul Teunissen
Dutch producer: DOXY Fictie
Co-producer: Menuetto Film (BE)

Logline: Daan, journalist and 38, slides all the difficult decisions in his life around like coins from a fairground bulldozer. When his old father shows up one day to come live with him, the chaos is complete. But when the newspaper editor asks him to write columns about his father's care, his Dad unexpectedly becomes a gain instead of a burden. With unexpected consequences.

Granted support: € 124,360

Paradise (feature film)

Director: Bob Colaers (BE)
Script: Saïd Boumazoughe (BE)
Dutch co-producer: Aattache Films
Lead producer: A Team Productions (BE)

Logline: Suleyman is released from prison after seven years and wants to rebuild his life. His home, the decayed apartment block 'Paradise,' has been taken over by gangsters. During a violent police raid, he fights his way through the chaos alongside rookie officer Yasmine to bring his mother to safety.

Granted support: € 150,000

Planet Reed (documentary)

Director: Axel Gebauer (DE)
Script: Karin Schagen
Dutch producer: Ispida Wildlife Productions

Logline: Planet Reed tells stories from a very special jungle. The jungle of reed. Reed is found along almost every ditch and large reed fields are habitat for many animals. Around such areas, the profession of reed cutter, the supplier for the roofer, used to arise. Nowadays, reed appears to offer new opportunities for nature-inclusive construction.

Granted support: € 65,378

Rabbit Hayes (feature film)

Director: Jim O'Hanlon (IE)
Script: Anna McPartlin (IE)
Dutch co-producer: Bind & Willink
Lead producer: Feline Films (IE)
Co-producers: Hot Drop Films (IE), Forty Foot Pictures (VK)

Logline: Here is a truth that can't be escaped: for Mia 'Rabbit' Hayes, life is coming to an end... Rabbit loves her life, ordinary as it is, and the extraordinary people in it. Now, she’s left with a handful of days to reckon with her past and a future she won’t be part of while her close-knit, eternally optimistic family face an impending new reality without her.

Granted support: € 167,413

Rutger, Thomas and Paco The Movie 2 (feature film)

Director: Hans Somers
Script: Maarten van den Broek
Dutch producer: Blooming Film & TV

Logline: Rutger, Thomas, and Paco face their greatest challenge yet when a villainous cat enthusiast unleashes an allergy pandemic to drive dogs out of the city. With humor, courage, and a talking Paco, they must fight to save their city and their four-legged friends.

Granted support: € 305,059

School of Hope (documentary)

Director: Marjolein Busstra
Script: Marjolein Busstra
Dutch producer: 100% Docs
Co-producer: Philistine Films (IL)

Logline: In occupied Palestinian territory, Manar (38) runs a pacifist primary school. She aims to break the cycle of violence by teaching the new generations of Palestinians about non-violence resistance. As the pressure on her own family and the political situation increases, Manar questions at what costs she should remain true to her ideals in the face of insurmountable oppression.

Granted support: € 161,456

Shakespeare Goes Armenian (documentary)

Director: Inna Sahakyan, Lilit Movsisyan (AM)
Script: Inna Sahakyan (AM)
Dutch co-producer: Bind & Willink
Lead producer: Bars Media (AM)

Logline: The daily strains of old age disappear as elderly residents and a robot in a Soviet-era retirement home in Armenia lose themselves staging the timeless world of Shakespeare.

Granted support: € 39,153

Swaggers (feature film)

Director: Lodewijk van Lelyveld
Script: Zeynep Dulger
Dutch producer: NewBe

Logline: Sam and Tarek, two ex-convicts, go undercover at a high school to dig up the diamonds they hid years ago. While posing as teenagers, they are confronted with their own school traumas and a host of challenges. Determined, they keep each other focused on completing their mission without blowing their cover.

Granted support: € 336,000

High-end series

Hemelrijk (drama series)

Director: Lisette Donkersloot, Victor D. Ponten, Jim Taihuttu
Script: Jim Taihuttu, Amira Duijnhouwer
Dutch producer: New Ams Film Company

Logline: When recently divorced Dewi (34) unexpectedly inherits the Hemelrijk plantation in Java, she decides to restore it with her daughter Alex (14). But the plantation turns out to be a mystical place filled with dark histories and secrets. As Dewi starts experiencing visions of her ancestors, she slowly begins to lose her grip on reality.

Granted support: € 465,831

The Machine – Hooked on Booking.com (drama series)

Director: Michiel van Jaarsveld
Script: Daan Windhorst, Michiel van Jaarsveld, Nasja Covers
Dutch producer: Hollands Licht

Logline: When long-time employee Gillian Tans becomes CEO of Booking.com, the company seems almost unrecognizable from the scrappy, no-nonsense startup she started working at 20 years earlier. Will she succeed in restoring and protecting some of Booking's original values in this 17.000 employee company, or is every successful company destined to expand into an allconsuming, dehumanizing money machine?

Granted support: € 1,785,208

Pim & Pom on a Museum Tour (animated series)

Director: Gioia Smid
Script: Fiona van Heemstra,Tingue Dongelmans
Dutch producer: Phanta Film
Co-producers: Phanta Animation, Pim & Pom

Logline: Best cat friends, Pim and Pom, travel with their owner, the Woman, with the caravan throughout the Netherlands. The curious cats always manage to follow the Woman to visit a museum with her. Full of fantasy they dive into a work of art or cultural treasure where they experience beautiful adventures and discover that nothing is what it seems!

Granted support: € 453,165

The Schiphol Diamond Heist (documentary series)

Director: Flynn von Kleist
Script: Flynn von Kleist
Dutch producer: Scenery

Logline: The Schiphol Diamond Heist is a 4-part documentary series about the largest heist in Dutch history, told from the unique perspective of the man who meticulously planned the heist for years: Errol H.V. The detailed interview with Errol H.V. serves as the central thread. His story is complemented by interviews with detectives and family members, as well as archival footage and fictional elements.

Granted support: € 422,467