The first edition of NLWave25, an initiative of the Netherlands Film Fund, run in collaboration with SEE NL and Eye Filmmuseum and aiming to spotlight new and upcoming Dutch feature-length films, documentaries and animation, will take place September 24 to 26 in Utrecht, on the eve of the Netherlands Film Festival.
The line-up reflects “fresh, bold storytelling from the Netherlands featuring both new voices and established directors,” write organisers. “This is a showcase platform designed to introduce these titles to international professionals at an early stage, and at the same time creating opportunities for direct interaction between the industry professionals and the filmmakers.”
Twelve new documentary titles are selected, five of which are new project pitches, four works-in-progress and three completed works. Among the doc highlights are new projects by IDFA award winners Tom Fassaert (A Family Affair, 2015, Special Jury Award Dutch Comp) and Luuk Bouwman (The Propagandist, 2024, Best Dutch Documentary).
Tom Fassaert will present his newly completed feature Between Brothers, produced by Een van de jongens, described as an intimate documentary about two elderly brothers who are wrestling with their unsolved past. A tragicomic story about the conflict between chaos and order, madness and normality, loyalty and autonomy.
Fassaert will also be pitching his work-in-progress In Your Shadow, co-directed with Thabi Mooi and again produced by Een van de jongens. In the project, when Thabi takes her estranged father on a journey to reconstruct his hidden past as an ANC freedom fighter, she discovers that there’s more to his lifelong silence than only his trauma.
IDFA winner Luuk Bouwman’s new project The Eighth Continent, produced by Amsterdam-based Scenery and pitched as a new work, deals with the race towards the colonization and exploitation of the Moon and its precious resources.
Another Een van de Jongens work-in-progress is Menno Otten’s Still City. The synopsis reads: A day, four seasons and 100 years in Amsterdam, crafted from found footage. The film delves into the city and its inhabitants, uniting them through mutual experiences and moments. As the narrative unfolds, the changing seasons deeply influence their lives, elevating the human experience as the centrepiece.
A third work-in-progress is Louis Hothothot’s Big Dreams, produced by Witfilm, in which the director follows an American girl who weighs nearly 250 kg and dreams of becoming an actor in Beijing. The final work-in-progress, Sanda Dia by Miriam Guttmann (prod. Tomtit Film), tells the story of a 20-year-old Belgian student who died during a student union initiation ceremony.
Two further completed documentary projects will be presented as NLWave25 screenings. In Club Heaven by Jona Honer (Submarine Productions), a unique ritual unfolds around money and status within a nightclub. Could materialism offer a new form of meaning and connection?
Meanwhile in Paikar by Dawood Hilmandi (pictured above, Baldr Film), years after he ran away from home as a boy to find freedom in the ‘West’, an Afghan-Dutch filmmaker goes back to challenge himself and his authoritarian father, questioning him on the notion of freedom.
The NLWave programme will also include Sven Bresser’s Reedland, earlier this year selected for Cannes and now The Netherlands’ official entry for the 2026 Oscar race.
NLWAVE25 DOCUMENTARY PROJECT PITCHES
• The Eighth Continent (Luuk Bouwman), Scenery
• Headless Trees (Sara Rajaei) Near By Film
• Little Lost Things (Robert-Jonathan Koeyers) Valk Productions
• Seasons of Resilience (Marjolein Busstra) 100% Film
• Through the Eye of the Falcon (Sakir Khader) Mint Film Office
NLWAVE25 DOCUMENTARY WORKS-IN-PROGRESS
• Big Dreams (Louis Hothothot) Witfilm
• In Your Shadow (Tom Fassaert and Thabi Mooi) Een van de jongens
• Still City (Menno Otten) Een van de jongens
• Sanda Dia (Miriam Guttmann) Tomtit Film
NLWAVE25 DOCUMENTARY SCREENINGS
• Between Brothers (Tom Fassaert) Een van de jongens
• Club Heaven (Jona Honer) Submarine Productions
• Paikar (Dawood Hilmandi) Baldr Film
