Which short film by new Dutch film talent is the audience favourite?

Every year Shortcutz Amsterdam teams up with partners worldwide to ask a global audience which is their favourite Dutch short film. For our Audience Award, we tour with the compilation of the seven nominees for Best Short Film of the Year. This year, the tour will run in partnership with 30 national and international partners.

How to Watch?

Easy-peasy! Join your local screenings, watch the seven nominated short films and vote in the end for your favourite one.

When will you find out the winner?

Shortcutz will announce the overall winner at the 9th Shortcutz Amsterdam Annual Awards on May 1st 2022. This gala will be streamed live on our website (www.shortcutzamsterdam.com).

BIRDLAND

Ashgan El-Hamus | Live-Action | 15’29’'

Joy and her daughter Skye live in a trailer park on the outskirts of town. Joy’s free parenting style is put to the test when Skye tries to look a lot like her mother.

Director: Ashgan El-Hamus
Main Cast: Faye Vekemans, Frieda Barnhard
Producer: Janneke Doolaard
Screenplay: Ashgan El-Hamus
Cinematography: Sam du Pon
Editing: Tessel de Vries

DIRECTOR: ASHGAN EL-HAMUS

Already during the Screenwriting bachelor at the Netherlands Film Academy, the writing and directing ambition of Ashgan El-Hamus went hand in hand by directing her written short film HABIBA – a co-production with the RICTS in Brussels, ‘Habiba’ has been selected for the Netherlands Film festival in 2017. Afterwards, she followed a directing course at the LUCA, School of Arts in Brussels. Ashgan received the grant 'Vrijplaats voor beginnende Scenaristen' in 2018 of the Netherlands Film Fund and wrote in this year and in 2019 the script of season 1 and 2 of the youth series ‘Skam NL’, which has been broadcast by the NTR both online and on television. Since 2019 Ashgan and Norbert ter Hall alternated with a weekly column on the film section of Het Parool. In 2020 the short film ‘Birdland’- written and directed by Ashgan travelled to several (international) film festivals, where it also won awards. In September Ashgan's episode of 'De Straat 2' - Lois Lane, premiered at the NFF 2021, which can be seen on television afterwards. She is currently working on her first feature film within the framework of 'De Oversteek'.

CAMOUFLAGE

Remco Polman and Jantiene de Kroon | Animation | 19’53''

Camouflage is a dystopian thriller in which we follow the story of office clerk Amouf. Amouf desperately tries to hold his life together while the world around him gets darker and darker, following the rise of De Jager. This flamboyant and highly intimidating creature is a hate-instigating vigilante, who has sworn to systematically prosecute certain groups and Amouf is not a brave character. Will he be strong enough to resist?

Directors: Remco Polman, Jantiene de Kroon
Producers: Jantiene de Kroon, Annemie Degryse
Screenplay: Jantiene de Kroon, Remco Polman

DIRECTORS: JANTIENE DE KROON, REMCO POLMAN

Remco Polman is a regular contributor to Dutch Disney magazine ‘Donald Duck’ and to best-selling Dutch comic ‘Dirkjan’. In 2006 he debuted as a director with the award-winning film ‘Mortel’ (which was the Dutch entry for the Academy Awards). In 2010 Remco co-directed the animated short ‘Dirkjan Rules’ with Wilfred Ottenheijm and in 2012 he co-directed Aimee de Jongh's short ‘Aurora’. In 2012, he initiated the comic book series ‘Floris van Dondermonde’, together with Wilfred Ottenheijm, for which they won the Dutch comic book award in 2015. In 2018, Remco was supervising animator for the Dutch animated feature ‘Heinz’. After that, he has been directing the animated short ‘Camouflage’ which premiered at Imagine Film Festival, was nominated for a 2021 Gouden Kalf (Grand Prize for Dutch film), won Best Animation Award at Rock Horror Film Festival in Rio de Janeiro and is currently nominated for Shortcutz Amsterdam Annual Awards.

Jantiene de Kroon is an Amsterdam based writer and animation producer. She has made several animated shorts, a.o. ‘Mortel’ (2006), ‘Bridge’ (2010), ‘Dirkjan Rules!’ (2010) and she has published short stories in various magazines. Jantiene obtained a BA in creative writing in 2003. In 2010/11 she worked as an Artist-in-Residence at Askal Alwan in Beirut, Libanon. In 2013 she attended Nisi Masa's European Short Pitch. She currently works as a producer on Marlyn Spaaij's animated short ‘Trouble in Mind’, and the international co-production of ‘Two, Three Snails a Lady’ by Kostas Ionnidis and Johan Grimonprez. Jantiene is also writing and developing the transmedia story world ‘Oranova’ in cooperation with VR-artist Merel Barends. ‘Camouflage’ premiered at Imagine Film Festival (Amsterdam, April 2021), was nominated for a 2021 Gouden Kalf (Grand Prize for Dutch film), won Best Animation Award at Rock Horror Film Festival in Rio de Janeiro and is currently nominated for Shortcutz Amsterdam Annual Awards.

FREE FALL

Emmanuel Tenenbaum | Live-Action | 19’20’’

Tom is a young trader in a London bank, whose recent performance has put his job on the line. When the first plane hits the World Trade Centre on the morning of September 11th 2001, Tom, convinced that it's a terrorist attack and not an accident, jumps into the biggest trade of his life. Based on a true story, adapted from the best-selling novel Swimming with Sharks by Joris Luyendijk.

Director: Emmanuel Tenenbaum
Main Cast: Abraham Lewis, Vincent Regan, Packy Lee, Bally Gill
Producer: Zangro
Screenplay: Guillaume Fournier
Cinematography: Antoine Roch
Editing: Jean-Baptiste Guignot

DIRECTOR: EMMANUEL TENENBAUM

Emmanuel Tenenbaum is a French director living in the Netherlands. A former biomedical engineer at Philips, he has been working for years with Quebec screenwriter Guillaume Fournier. Together, they were able to create realistic and strong short films about multinationals. Their films have been selected in more than 200 festivals, have received numerous awards (Grand Prize at REGARD) and nominations (Vimeo Best of the year), and have been broadcast on many TV channels over the world. ‘Free Fall’ is their third short film and their last opus before their first feature film.

LAST RIDE

Edson da Conceição | Live-Action | 11'49’'

When cab driver Oussama (40) reluctantly has to pick up the last customer of his night shift, he meets the endearing Joyce (50), who wants to make a few stops on the way. The encounter results in a road trip through the city of Rotterdam, that neither of them will soon forget.

Director: Edson da Conceição
Main Cast: Manoushka Zeegelaar Breeveld; Walid Benmbarek
Producers: Nicky Onstenk, Marc Bary
Screenplay: Leila Sahir
Cinematography: Jeroen Klokgieters
Editing: Patrick Schonewille

DIRECTOR: EDSON DA CONCEIÇÃO

Before Edson da Conceição studied at the Netherlands Film Academy, he gained seven years of experience in various departments on film sets. In his third year at the film academy, Edson made the short film "Eindhalte " (2018), which has been selected for several festivals. including Go Shorts, Shortcutz and Short Shorts Film Festival Asia. Between his third-fourth year at the Film Academy, he co-directed "Safe Haven" (2019), selected for Cinekid and Shortcutz. Edson graduated with two fiction films. "Porfotto" (2019) won the prize for best graduation film from the Netherlands Film Academy and was nominated for a Student Oscar. "Mania" (2019) became a finalist at the Upstate New York Horror Film Festival and reached the semi-finals at the Buenos Aires International Film Festival.

MARLON BRANDO

Vincent Tilanus | Live-Action | 20’00’'

In the last weeks of being high school students, Cas and Naomi, both out of the closet, prefer to spend their days together. As “brother and sister" of other parents, they experience security and love that they cannot find elsewhere. But when their future plans seem to drive them apart, their relationship will be put at risk and the affectionate Cas must dare to be alone.

Director: Vincent Tilanus
Main Cast: Tijn Winters, Jetske Lieber
Producers: Loes Komen, Eva Verweij
Screenplay: Vincent Tilanus
Cinematography: Eva Heinsbroek
Editing: Tobias Cornelissen

DIRECTOR: VINCENT TILANUS

Vincent Tilanus (1994, Netherlands) is a director based in Amsterdam. He studied at The European Film College in Denmark and the Netherlands Film Academy. His graduation film Bladgoud (Golf Leaf) has screened and competed at acclaimed film festivals around the world. His debut professional short film Marlon Brando is selected for Semaine de la Critique Cannes 2020.

SHIELDED

Jan Verdijk | Live-Action | 21'15’'

Who can you trust during a global pandemic? Two sisters who live in forced isolation get suspicious when a man suddenly appears claiming he wants to help them. The uncanny atmosphere of the Covid lockdown is taken one step further in this gloomy short film, in which the two sisters Roos and Mira try to survive in their sealed up home, while the pandemic rages outside.

Director: Jan Verdijk
Main Cast: Nola Elvis Kemper, Femke de Booys, Ward Weemhoff
Producer: Daniel Dow
Screenplay: Jan Verdijk
Cinematography: Noél Schoolderman
Editing: Joshua Menco

DIRECTOR: JAN VERDIJK

Jan Verdijk (1987) is a Dutch writer/director of psychological horror films. His most recent film ‘Shielded’ (2021) (aka ‘Pantser’) was awarded the Golden Calf Award for Best Short Film. Jan excels at visual storytelling, with a directorial style that focuses on a gripping emotional atmosphere. He made himself known with ‘Wild’ (2018), winning the prestigious Méliès d’Or at Sitges Film Festival. A filmmaker on the rise whose talent has been recognised by multiple Triple-A festivals (‘Indringer (2021)’, ‘A Stranger From the Past’ (2020), ‘Valt Een Man Uit De Lucht’ (2017).

WALL #4

Lucas Camps | Live-Action | 07’54’'

When a cinema audience starts mocking the film they're watching, the events in the theatre take an unexpected turn.

Director: Lucas Camps
Main Cast: Bert Hana, Florence Vos Weeda, Anton de Bies, Daniël Kolf
Producer: Lucas Camps
Screenplay: Lucas Camps
Cinematography: Danny Noordanus
Editing: Max Vonk

DIRECTOR: LUCAS CAMPS

Lucas Camps graduated in 2011 from the Netherlands Film Academy in Amsterdam. Since then he made several award-winning Dutch short films like 'Green', 'Glimp' and 'Deadwood'. Then he went on to direct 50 episodes of the popular Dutch youth series 'Spangas'. During the lockdown for the coronavirus in 2020, the shoot for Wall #4 was delayed and Lucas had the chance to make another short film 'No Dog in Amsterdam', which went viral on the internet and won the audience award at Shortcutz Amsterdam. Lucas loves surprising the audience by showing them magic in places they don’t expect it.