Content from VPRO

With the epic dimensions of a Shakespearean tragedy, The Queen of Versailles follows billionaires Jackie and David’s rags-to-riches story to uncover the innate virtues and flaws of their American dream. We open on the triumphant construction of the biggest house in America, a sprawling, 90,000-square-foot mansion inspired by Versailles. Since a booming time-share business built on the real-estate bubble is financing it, the economic crisis brings progress to a halt and seals the fate of its owners. We witness the impact of this turn of fortune over the next two years in a riveting film fraught with delusion, denial, and self-effacing humor.

New York, 1986: a city of big dreams and equally big problems. Like New York itself, hip-hop music encompassed both of these human conditions. But hip-hop and its cultural birthplace shared other important characteristics, too: the desire to always be original, a hustle-to-survive ambition, and — if the stars aligned — the ability to come out on top, no matter what the odds. Big Fun in the Big Town is about hip-hop when artistry in the game was still at its center. When skills, not hype, got you your first record deal. When Run-DMC took the reins from Doug E Fresh and Grandmaster Flash, paving the way for hundreds of other hitmakers to follow. When a chart-topping LL Cool J still lived with his Grandmother. When the Latin Quarter was the club to be at on any weekend night. And when artists from all backgrounds could taste their own pop chart dreams, just beyond their reach but still seemingly attainable.

Amazon has become one of the most powerful corporations in the world, and only the second company ever to be valued over US$1 trillion. This film investigates its strategies, inner workings and ideologies and asks whether the services that we have become so dependent on could eventually cost us our hard won freedoms, and how one of the world’s most trusted brands has influenced our individual behaviour, labour force and culture.

In a small, conservative Scottish village, an oilman is paralyzed in an accident. His wife, who prayed for his return, feels guilty; even more, when he urges her to have sex with another.

J'accuse is an 'essay-istic' documentary in which Greenaway's fierce criticism of today's visual illiteracy is argued by means of a forensic search of Rembrandt's Nightwatch. Greenaway explains the background, the context, the conspiracy, the murder and the motives of all its 34 painted characters who have conspired to kill for their combined self-advantage. Greenaway leads us through Rembrandt's paintings into 17th century Amsterdam. He paints a world that is democratic in principle, but is almost entirely ruled by twelve families. The notion exists of these regents as charitable and compassionate beings. However, reality was different.

Africa in the sixties. The Nile perch, a ravenous predator, is introduced into Lake Victoria as a scientific experiment, causing the extinction of many native species. Its meat is exported everywhere in exchange for weapons, creating a globalized evil alliance on the lake shores. An infernal nightmare in the real world that wipes out Darwin's Theory of Evolution.

The film is put together as a collection of autonomous images which, once combined, make up van der Keuken's mental universe: family happiness, fragments of some of his earlier films, a homage to the saxophonist Ben Webster, two poems by the great contemporary poets Remco Campert and Lucebert, a portrait of the director's grandfather, who taught him photography at the age of twelve... 
"One of those small masterpieces one encounters by surprise..." Jean-Paul Fargier, Cahiers du Cinéma, 1975

When Eva’s mother unexpectedly dies, the life of Eva turns out to be built on secrets and lies. The fear of losing her mind, just like her father who has been living in a mental facility for many years, becomes more and more of a threat, propelling Eva on a quest into her past to face her demons.

Twin zoologists lose their wives in a car accident and become obsessed with decomposing animals.

Patrick Dench is a successful loudmouth barrister and professional womanizer who treats everybody with disrespect but still manages to bed every beautiful woman in sight.

Three generations of women who seek to murder their husbands share a solidarity for one another which brings about three copy-cat drownings.

When the fifteen year old Bram meets Florian at a house party, he immediately falls for him. There's only one problem: nobody knows Bram is gay.

A criminal from Amsterdam barely surviving a liquidation. An old Frisian farmer bent on revenge. An illegal immigrant with uncertain prospects. Eventually, they meet under an ancient oak tree. Beyond the last town.

Vagabond Bob finds a suitcase belonging to stockbroker Peter and returns it to his hotel. There he meets Marion, who happens to be Peter's mistress. Unfortunately in doing so he loses his only possession of value: a lottery ticket.

A unique and compelling account of the day that changed the modern world, captured by ordinary people who chose to pick up their cameras and film that fateful day.

In 1939, the author Annemarie Schwarzenbach and the ethnologist Ella Maillart travel together by car to Kabul, but each is in pursuit of her own project. Annemarie Schwarzenbach, who was among Erika and Klaus Mann's circle of friends in the 30s, is searching for a place of refuge in the Near East to discover her own self. Ella Maillart justifies her restlessness, her need for movement and travel, with a scientific pretext: she would like to explore the mysterious Kafiristan Valley and make a name for herself with publications on the archaic life of the nomads living there. Both women are on the run, but political developments and their own biographies catch up with them again and again. Their mutual journey through the outside world, which runs from Geneva via the Balkans and Turkey to Persia, is compounded by the inner world of emotions with a tender love story.

Stage registration of the theatre program by Theatre Rotterdam. Snorro, the masked avenger, takes on the dastardly regime of El Commandante. Meanwhile, a bounty hunter has arrived in the village of Burrito, where Don Jose lives; waiting on a marriage he doesn't want and coping with identity issues.

By accident, Luc discovers the whereabouts of his brother Ad, who mysteriously disappeared fifteen years before. As it turns out, he is living with Els, secluded from the rest of the world, on a farm. Luc decides to stay a few days, even though he and his wife Mieke are not welcome at first. After a while, Mieke heads home. Also, Luc hears strange sounds coming from a barn at the farm. He decides to investigate the matter. He discovers a secret that Ad and Els have been hiding for years.

Television adaptation/registration of the theatre program by the Dutch children's theatregroup RoTheater. The play is a comical adaptation of the fairytale of Puss in Boots.

Tegenlicht in Dutch or Backlight in English is a series of television documentaries by the VPRO, a Dutch public broadcasting organisation. Backlight "aims to grasp the quintessence of prominent trends and developments" in the practice of critical journalism, and tries to improve understanding of the intricate inner workings of our modern society.

This VPRO's ‘summer classic’ is based on an equally simple and refreshing idea that originated in 1988: When during the summer most of the channels are showing reruns, ask interesting people people to curate their ‘favorite television evening’ and let them clarify the fragments in a long-form interview/conversation. The programme was first aired in 1988. Each episode takes up an entire Sunday evening, lasting typically three hours. It consists of an in-depth studio interview with a notable Dutch, Belgian or other Dutch-speaking foreigner, interspersed with cinema or television footage selected by the guest, which is subsequently discussed. Guests include writers, scientists, television personalities, politicians or business people.

Margôt Ros and Maike Meijer play 40 different characters working in office tower Toren C, an office hell of eight flours, filled with a plethora of ridiculous situations.

Semi-realistic comedy show.

In Amsterdam Paradise we're witnessing the development of the relationship between Adam and Eva and see how it’s continually influenced and affected by dozens of other stories set in the city. Amsterdam Paradise is a shimmering mosaic narrative of the city, life and love.

Fay (14) and Boris (10) discover that their parents secretly replaced themselves by robots. Claudia and Joost each have demanding jobs and even though they try very hard, they are not able to combine their jobs with spending quality time with their children. Boris, Fay, Claudia and Joost slowly realize they need each other as a family and when the robots become uncontrollable, they can only clear up the mess by working together.

Media logic investigates the difference between image and reality. Media serve as a guide to get a grip on reality. But to what extent are they a reliable guide? How is public opinion formed? And what influence does this have on the actions of administrators, journalists and citizens?

Sunday with Lubach is a satirical television program of the VPRO network that is presented by Arjen Lubach.

This elaborate and curated fairy tale adventure tells the story of Lampje, the lighthouse keeper's daughter, who has to climb a grand staircase every evening to light the lantern and shrink ships before the rocks. One night, in the midst of an approaching storm, she finds that her matches have run out - disaster strikes and an adventure begins.

Documentaries are broadcast every week on Dutch TV Channel NPO 2 under the name 2Doc: inspiring stories of the here and now.

A TV Series starring Ellen Parren and Juliette van Ardenne.

Laura H, The teenager from Zoetermeer takes on a new identity in her search for herself and travels with her husband Ibrahim and two children to the caliphate in Syria. When she shows up at the border in 2016 and says she has escaped and regrets it, doubts about her motives are great. Why did Laura choose to travel to the 'Caliphate'?

When war broke out in Europe in 1914, most people thought the conflict would be over by Christmas; they could not imagine how wrong they were. An attack in Sarajevo ended up becoming a snowball that swept the world: a new kind of warfare had begun, waged with techniques and means never seen before. By November 1918, ten million people had died and the political map of the planet had been redrawn.

In the late 1980s, a Dutch anti-terrorism detective sets out to take down an IRA cell ruthlessly targeting English military personnel on leave in the south of the Netherlands.

To his guests – artists, scientists, writers, philosophers and musicians – Wim Kayzer in Of Beauty and Consolation asks the philosophical question: What makes this life worth living?