Michel Sluysmans
Lockdown is a comic thriller about living in quarantine. The Netherlands is hit hard by the corona crisis. This goes for Theater Group Maastricht as well. If all theaters close their doors on government orders, bankruptcy is imminent. Artistic leader Michel is very concerned. He worries about the future of his company, but also about his own health. He has asthma and belongs to the so-called risk groups. Nor does his hypochondria help. Fortunately, good friend and companion Servé comes up with a solution. What if they play the Oresteia, the play with which they would premiere soon, via the internet? Just from their living rooms? In this way they can still attract a bit of public interest and possibly close the highest financial need pending help from the government.
"I don't have much longer to live, son." In this alternately endearing and absurdist sketch, a bachelor desperately tries to fulfill his mother's last wish: to become a grandma.
With his familial bookshop on the verge of bankruptcy, Simon finds himself retreating more and more to his cabin in the woods. After witnessing the suicide of a stranger, a childhood trauma involving his bullied best friend resurfaces and he withdraws even further into the past, estranging himself from his wife and his responsibilities. The only glimmer of hope is a young girl who needs help with her book review. But there is more to the girl than there seems to be.
Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1944, during World War II. Andries Riphagen, a powerful underworld boss, has made his fortune by putting his many criminal talents at the service of the Nazi occupiers. But the long battle is about to end and the freedom fighters, who have been persecuted and murdered for years, are abandoning their hideouts to mercilessly hunt down those who have collaborated with the killers…
Fred lives on his own. His wife is dead, his son has left. He leans on the church, busses, meat-and-two-veg. Then Leo appears. Leo is a tramp. Fred lets Leo move in with him. An absurdist feature debut with a laugh and a tear in stuffy Netherlands.
Love is the Word is a moving, romantic and funny coming-of-age drama about the magic of first love and the misery of first lost, set in 1978: the year 'Grease' hit the big screen.
