Rebellious City

L'Épopée des gueules noires

Virgin School follows the emotional and physical journey of 26-year-old virgin James as he embarks on a unique four-month course for sexually inexperienced men in Amsterdam

In this docudrama, the real star is a railroad tunnel. First built, at the instigation of a banker and an engineer, in 1872 under appalling conditions, it was widened to accommodate automobiles in 1972. The tunnel links the Rhineland in Germany with Italy and goes through the Swiss mountains. The many lives lost in the building of the first tunnel were considered to be one of the costs for economic progress. In one re-enactment, a strike for better conditions is severely dealt with by the military. Even in 1972, though working conditions were better, most of the men working on the tunnel were poor immigrant workers, with almost no power to negotiate better treatment.

Bas Jan Ader rides his bike into a canal in Amsterdam.

Republic of Finland is promoting clean technology by organizing Green Mining seminars where foreign experts tell us how the development of the world is becoming increasingly expensive by 2050. The Earth is running out of resources and mining companies have to use increasingly low-grade metal deposits. Finland aims to be a model country for environmentally friendly mining. Its pioneer project is Talvivaara, which uses new biotechnology to extract nickel, zinc and uranium. Through several charismatic characters, the documentary film The Land Of Mine follows the rise of the biggest nickel mine in Western Europe and the ensuing disasters whose effects continue to reverberate in the nation.

An exciting video tour of Amsterdam.

Artist Chris Berens finds his inspiration in his own magical inner world. The animals and creatures that play a major role in his imagination also populate the landscapes he creates with his special painting technique. It results in scenes that are both enchanting and ominous.

We get up, go to work, eat and go to bed. Is our life about daily rituals or is there a deeper, more inscrutable meaning of life? Kjeld lives surrounded by nature in his small house and soon becomes a father. He seeks satisfaction in the simplicity of life in nature. Anna is a young artist looking for answers in her poetry and music. A philosophical documentary essay in which the search for the core of life is central. How should we live if there are no answers anywhere?

Kim and Bob have been inseparable since childhood. Does puberty end their friendship?

In 1917, French artist Marcel Duchamp declared everyday objects as art. A provocative act that sparked a heated, still topical discussion around the question: what is art? Since then, that question has been asked time and time again. To the artist and to the viewer. If everything is possible and everything is allowed, how do you remember what art is? Director Ditteke Mensink spent two years at De Ateliers: the breeding ground for top talent in the visual arts. Her stay ended in a harsh confrontation with herself, the young artists and modern visual arts.

This Traveltalks entry looks at the sights, sounds, people, and art masterpieces in the capital of the Netherlands.

Documentary about four maffia-like friends based in Amsterdam.

Johan van der Keuken went against the grain in 1980: from Amsterdam (on April 30 with the coronation riots and squatting actions) via Paris, southern France and Italy to Egypt. He made his personal travelogue in three parts for VPRO television. Later, he fused the three parts into one long movie.

In Amsterdam-Zuidoost, residents built vegetable gardens in their deserted, dangerous inner garden. While gardening, they not only tackle their own problems, but also those of the neighborhood. In Venserpolder, a neighborhood in Amsterdam-Zuidoost, residential block 10 is built around a courtyard. For years, that garden has been considered too dangerous because of criminal activities and it is deserted. Until the residents, mostly single mothers, decide to create vegetable gardens. Meli, Talita, Gilma and Maureen rarely came out before and hardly knew of the other's existence. Now they meet in the garden.

Voyages au centre de la Terre : Dans les pas de Jules Verne

Nigella returns for a very special Christmas treat when she travels to Amsterdam to enjoy the festive season in the Venice of the North.

Pak Mokum Terug is the name of a group of Amsterdam activists that refuse to accept that the basic right to housing no longer appears to apply. The group’s name means “Take Back Amsterdam,” Mokum being the traditional nickname for a capital city in which today, for more and more people, a home is becoming unaffordable. Against this background, Hotel Mokum reports on the squatting of a dilapidated hotel in the city center, narrated in the voice of a fictitious activist.

Rhythmic composition of moving photographs of cyclists in Amsterdam, ‘set’ to Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.

21st century legal prostitution through the frank stories of Amsterdam red-light district sex workers at a time when tighter regulation threatens their livelihood.

1964-1968 Trams in Amsterdam, Rotterdam en Den Haag