Shortcutz amsterdam has selected a compilation of some of our favourite short films ONLINE from our official selection, all totally binge-worthy. ENJOY!
CROWS NEST
Directed by Flynn von Kleist ** Winner Mr Zee Best Director, Mr Zee Best Cinematography, Mr Zee Best Actor
On the day Joey (13) celebrates his return home to live with his mother, a crisis tests his resolve to restore the balance of their relationship. Based on a true story, played by the boy who lived it.
EXODUS
Directed by Guido F.G. Jeurissen
A critical look at the 2006 Rotterdam Act, which made it possible to reject inhabitants under specific income and educational levels in certain neighbourhoods. Municipal Poet Dean Bowen compares this gentrification to the Biblical Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Directed by Brandon Grötzinger & Wander Theunis ** Winner Mr Zee Audience Award, Winner Mr Zee Best Screenplay, Winner Mr Zee Best Actress
On the last day of the year, a dispirited work-at-home phone interpreter has her moribund life turned upside down when she answers an unexpected emergency call.
SHORT BUT SWEET
Directed by Junaid Chundrigar ** Nominee Mr Zee Best Animation
A young hero has to embark on an epic quest to save a princess from an evil villain, all within an absurd short amount of time.
BALLS
Directed by Janne Schmidt ** Winner Mr Zee Best Film, Winner Mr Zee Best Actor, Winner Mr Zee Best Screenplay
The 22-year-old student Teun is diagnosed with testicular cancer and because he will be starting chemotherapy soon he has to move out of his student flat and back into his parents’ home. His flatmates throw him a farewell party. The evening starts of great but soon turns into an emotional rollercoaster when suddenly one of his friends suggests something daring in order to save the evening.
RENAULT 5
Directed by Kaweh Modiri ** Nominee Mr Zee Best Screenplay
How do you acquire a new identity as a brand new refugee in the Netherlands? Writer and filmmaker Kaweh Modiri adapted a chapter from his debut novel Meneer Sadek en de anderen for a film drama about the tragicomic vicissitudes and adaptation problems of an Iranian family in Amersfoort in the late 1980s. The perspective lies with the youngest son Sam, who in many respects seems older and wiser than the rest of the family. Through his wakeful eye, the maker observes the Netherlands and its new inhabitants.
97%
Directed by Ben Brand ** Winner Mz Zee Best Director, Winner Mr Zee Best Actor
Via an app on his phone, Bert discovers that a 97% love match is near. Will he find her before the subway reaches the end of the line?
TRAVELERS IN THE NIGHT
Directed by Ena Sendijarevic ** Nominee Mr Zee Best Actress
Working the lonely late shift, a gas station cashier shares a silly moment with a special kind of stranger.
CRUISE PATROL
Directed by Bobby de Groot & Arjan van Meerten ** Nominee Mz Zee Best Animation
On a long and dusty road, a routine cruise patrol takes an unexpected turn and spirals totally out of control. Cruise Patrol is an animated short that takes you on a wild ride.
UNTUK SELALU
Directed by Andrea van den Bos, Ambar Surastri & Robbert Maruanaija ** Nominee Mr Zee Best Documentary
A short documentary about the differences and similarities between the four different groups of people with Indonesian roots living in The Netherlands.
TABOOK
Directed by Dario van Vree ** Winner Mr Zee Best Animation
While browsing the bookstore 19-year-old Gwen is unexpectedly drawn to a volume of kinky erotica, earning her disapproving glares from the other customers. Will Gwen follow her deepest desires or will she let her embarrassment restrain her? ‘Tabook’ looks at the subject of sex in a fun loving way, highlighting the taboo that exists in society around embracing sexuality.
THE ART OF FLYING
Directed by Jan van Ijken ** Nominee Mr Zee Best Experimental Film
The art of flying is a short film about “murmurations”: the mysterious flights of the Common Starling. It is still unknown how the thousands of birds are able to fly in such dense swarms without colliding. Every night the starlings gather at dusk to perform their stunning air show. Because of the relatively warm winter of 2014/2015, the starlings stayed in the Netherlands instead of migrating southwards. This gave filmmaker Jan van IJken the opportunity to film one of the most spectacular and amazing natural phenomena on earth.
SHADOWBOXERS
Directed by Guido Ekker ** Nominee Mr Zee Best Editing
Lyon, Faouzi, and Raoul all come from different cultural, religious and economic backgrounds. Yet they share a relentless drive in their daily routine. They strive to be the best that they can be, pushing past the punches life throws at them.
SORRY
Directed by Jeroen Houben ** Winner Best Screenplay
Somewhere in a car graveyard, the Van Zanten family wakes up in a wrecked car.
NETFLIX & CHILL
Directed by Michael Middelkoop ** Nominee Mr Zee Best Actor
One awkward date night on a couch turns into a horrific three-way between a boy, a girl and a tv.
ROTOR
Directed by Maarten Groen ** Nominee Mr Zee Best Film, Nominee Mr Zee Best Actor, Nominee Mr Zee Best Director
A lone night security guard in an eerie factory sees an intruder on one of the monitors and goes to investigate.
DESCENT
Directed by Johan Rijpma ** Nominee Best Experimental Film
A cylinder-shaped cup falls and breaks into pieces. Every frame of this recorded movement is then manually translated into a ceramic layer that is made of the original remains of the cup. All the layers are then arranged vertically and glued together, forming a new object that visualizes the destructive moment. As this new form emerges gravity starts to shift pulling the new object into destruction as well. This cycle repeatedly keeps breaking the old to create the new, by translating destructive moments into higher-dimensional forms.
COPYRETTE
Directed by Marc de Leeuw ** Winner Mr Zee Best Cinematography
The nude body of a young woman lies motionless on a kitchen floor. In a nearby forest, a man calls out for his dog. Their paths cross at a copy shop where it appears that the outwardly shy woman has a strange obsession with her body image.
DANIËL
Directed Vincent Fitz-Jim ** Winner Mr Zee Best Cinematography
A poetic coming-of-age story about a teen who finds love for the first time on a sunny summer’s day.
NOBU
Directed by Sarah Blok and Lisa Konno ** Nominee Mr Zee Best Film, Winner Mr Zee Best Editing
NOBU is a short film about former world champion karate and Japanese immigrant Nobuaki Konno. In this film, his daughter and fashion designer Lisa Konno asks him about cultural differences while he wears a collection she made for him. The film combines aesthetics with humour and social engagement with optimism.
BINGO!
Directed by Patrick Schoenmaker ** Winner Mr Zee Best Animation
A hilarious award-winning animated comedy In a joyless nursing home, a feisty elderly woman embarks on a maniacal quest to recover a lost bingo ball.
ORBIT
Directed by Tess Martin ** Winner Mr Zee Best Experimental Film
Spinning drawings guide us along with the flow of energy through our planet, and let us ponder our place in the natural cycle.
HATE FOR SALE
Directed by Anna Eijsbouts ** Nominee Mr Zee Best Animation
A stop-motion animated film about the world we live in. We live in a world in which we consume hate as much as we are consumed by it. This film examines the alluring and tempting qualities of this devouring emotion and why we keep buying into it.
WATERBALLET
Directed by Kamiel Rongen ** Nominee Mr Zee Best Experimental Film
Kamiel Rongen mixes different liquids together in a fishbowl to create surreal multicoloured landscapes.
*** To Kamiel: Thank you so much for the amazing video comments <3
EXIST
Directed by Klaas Arie Westland ** Nominee Mr Zee Best Film, Nominee Mr Zee Best Documentary
Ahmad is a refugee from Syria, who just arrived in the Netherlands. We follow him taking a first walk in a new town, in a new world.
OSUS
Directed by Judith Veenendaal ** Nominee Mr Zee Best Cinematography
Muay Thai champion Kevin Ross faces his fiercest opponent – himself.
GOLDEN OLDIES
Directed by Daan Velsink, Joost Lieuwma
In a typical 50's diner a gangly teenager tries to rock and roll with the prettiest girl on the dance floor but is opposed by an importunate cool dude and a stammering jukebox.
FINAL STOP
Directed by Edson da Conceicão ** Nominee Mr Zee Best Actor
Mo, a bitter young man, steps into the subway on a busy morning, wearing a bomb vest. On his way to Central Station, he meets the old man Khalid. Khalid starts a conversation that will change Mo’s life forever.
AMUSE
Directed by Jonne Covers and Ivo van Aart ** Nominee Mr Zee Best Experimental Film, Nominee Mr Zee Best Editing
A large restaurant, full of people who are having a good time. They're chatting and paying attention to each other. At least, that's what it seems...
VIGOR
Directed by Philip Besamusca ** Nominee Mr Zee Best Cinematography
Bram (10 years) steals a small boat, puts wheels under it and travels towards the sea. The man that helps him reach an old shipwreck turns out to be more than a casual passerby and saying farewell proves difficult for both.
I CAN FLY
Directed by Ruwan Suresh Heggelman
The 22-year-old Lisa is approached on the street by the 23-year-old Sven, after a flirt and a joke, Sven asks Lisa the question: Do you believe that I can fly?
TICKING AWAY
Directed by Michael Sewnarain ** WInner Mr Zee Best Animation
A solitary watchmaker seeks consolation and meaning in his daily routine. Then, one evening, he is offered a very eccentric watch to repair.
SAND
Directed by Arjan Brentjes ** Nominated Mr Zee Best Animation
You get up at five, eat your vitamins, take some water with your coffee, work for a few hours, eat your omegas and flavonoids, work a little more, get some exercise and then take a shower. But don’t bother trying to wash the sand out of your hair.
WORD!
Directed by Amos Mulder ** Nominee Mr Zee Best Experimental
Word! is a visual exploration of language in a post-fact world. Quotes in the form of tweets by famous philosophers and writers appear throughout the film. Between the evocative urban scenarios that unfold, the viewer is invited on a seven-minute cinematic journey that interrogates our indissoluble relationship with words.
FACE MY TRIBE
Directed by Michael Zomer ** Nominee Mr Zee Best Documentary
Take an exclusive look at award-winning short documentary Face My Tribe. This video will take you to the last generation face tattooed women living in the remote mountain areas of Myanmar. An ethnographic short documentary that uncovers the story behind their face tattoos and reveals how these tribe still maintain their life as their ancestors lived.
VILSHULT: AN AMSTERDAM PICTURE FROM IKEA
Directed by Tom Roes ** Nominee Mr Zee Best Documentary
Vilshult is the name of a €54,95 IKEA-poster with a red bike in front of a black & white Amsterdam canal. Although it's been sold almost half a million times and can be seen on people's walls all over the world, it's a bit controversial.
JIMMY ON THE RUN
Directed by Wytse Koetse *** Winner Mr Zee Best Documentary, Winner Mr Zee Best Editing, Winner Mr Zee Audience Award
A 7-minute portrait of natural-born fashion and street photographer 'Jimmy on the Run'. Coming from rural China, he now roams the streets of Amsterdam always chasing the next best picture. This short film shows Jimmy’s passion for the lens, his dynamic lifestyle and his struggle with family expectations.
FUNDAMENT
Directed by Wilbrand (Wilbert van Veldhuizen) ** Nominee Mr Zee Best Film
A young woman drives an old car along a coastal road towards a village. There is a man in the passenger seat, contemplating. Planning to shape the future of the village, as well as his own.
SKOGAFOSS
Directed by Niels Bourgonje ** Nominee Mr Zee Best Film
Gijs receives a phone call from his mother that reveals her troubled mental state.
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