Productions

A Blue Hole In The Sky was the first Dutch movie to document the murder of nearly one million Sinti and Roma during World War 2. One of the protagonist of that film was Sinti composer Roger Moreno-Rathgeb. In 1998 he started his first score for the Requiem, which he intends to dedicate to the victims of Auschwitz. However, after visiting the camp he blocked. It took several years to pick it up. Now in 2020 we see Roger in Berlin under the Brandenburger Tor, the place where everything started. He plays his accordion at the Sinti and Roma Memorial. During the rehearsals and later the performing with the Sinti and Roma Philharmonic and a Jewish Choir in the Berliner Dom on Holocaust Memorial Day, Roger experiences how his notes and emotions are tranformerd into music. Visiting Auschwitz with some Dutch musicians he shows them the places that inspired him to compose specific passages ont the Requim. Roger’s story is interwoven and illustrated with a second storyline in which some grandchildren of several protagonist of A Blue Hole In The Sky are confronted with stories about their grandfather or grandmother. The film had its world premiere in Berlin on April 9, 2022.

Famous and highly respected bird watcher Arjan Dwarshuis traveled around the world in 2016 to spot as many bird species as possible in one year. His goal: to break the previous record. He will have to see more than 6000 bird species for this. Arjan visited more than 40 countries, hiked the highest mountain ranges, the hottest deserts and the most remote tropical rainforests. In Arjan’s Big Year we see Arjan at various bird hotspots all over the world. His determination and perseverance are beautifully reflected during the many highs and lows of the quest.

With his film Arjan draws attention to the Birdlife Prevention Extinctions Program.

The film won the Audience Award at the Wildlife Film Festival Rotterdam.

As the 1914 summer sun heats up mainland Europe, the First World War crashes down across the fractured continent. Living in Paris, Arthur Knaap yearns to serve, protect and defend his beloved nation and joins the Foreign Legion.

Before long, Arthur is plunged into the cold, consuming darkness of frontline trench warfare. As the men who stand beside him lose their limbs, their friends and their hope, the true horror of the conflict refuses to abate. With the lights going out on the Western front, the receipt of devastating news spurs Arthur to make a decision that will change his life, and the course of the war forever. But as his worn boots take him away from the falling shells, the gravity of his choice and the screams in his nightmares bring a harrowing conflict of their own…

The Fox tells the story of The Hague-based Europol agent Simon Fox (Morgan C Jones). He leads a troubled life after he accidentally shot and killed a child. Struggling with this trauma Simon is confronted with a secret post-war resistance organization called ‘Gladio’. The organization is abused by illustrious politicians in their hunger for power, as a result of which The Netherlands is likely to degenerate into a police state. When it becomes clear that Simon’s father established ‘Gladio’ after the Second World War with very different intentions, Simon is determined to turn the tide..

Two men are living in a small, single-room apartment. Their space-saving solutions are ingenious. Everything is multifunctional: the bed is a piano, and the bookcase also serves as a fridge. But they long for a woman in the house. To compensate for the lack of the feminine touch, they create a mechanical maid. One of the men makes romantic advances; the other sees her in a more practical role. But the doll soon shows there’s more to her than polishing her day away. She has a will of her own and refuses to be bossed around. Things start getting more agitated in the one-room apartment.

Successful change management guru Gijs Schippers is about to give his life a new twist by leaving his family for one of his young students. But then suddenly the dear twin brother of his wife is traumatically killed, putting his plan on hold. While he waits impatiently for a ‘suitable’ moment after the mourning period, his mistress sits with her boyfriend as a volunteer at a summer camp. Thrown back into nature and with the unexpected responsibility for a group of mentally challenged people, she too can not find a good moment to break her relationship. Forced beyond their comfort zone of modern fast life, change appears to be more than rigorously overturning the helm. Because of the seemingly small things in life they are confronted with who they really are and want to be.

A Blue Hole In The Sky is the first Dutch movie to document the murder of nearly one million Roma and Sinti during World War II. This poignant film tells the gripping story of twelve people who survived the Second World War. During a joint trip to Auschwitz they talk about this for the first time and therefore breaking a taboo. Through sometimes violent and also beautiful images and stories, the spectator is sucked in by a piece of history that everybody has always kept silent about up to now.
Director: Bob Entrop

• Genre: Documentary
• Duration: 105 minutes
• With: Roger ‘Moreno’ Rathgeb, Lily van Angeren-Franz, Zoni Weisz, Jozef Petalo, Sani van Mullem, Bluma Schattevoet a.o.
• Trailer: A Blue Hole in the Sky on Vimeo
• Language: Dutch Subtitling: English
• Audio 5.1