ANIMATOR/DIRECTOR (COBAIN: MONTAGE OF HECK, UNDONE, THE SANDMAN: A DREAM OF A THOUSAND CATS)

Hisko Hulsing majored in painting and animation at the art academy of Rotterdam in 1995.
His films Seventeen and Junkyard were invited to numerous festivals and won many awards, including the Grand Prize at the Ottawa International Animation Festival and the Audience Award at the Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film.

Both Seventeen and Junkyard were the official Dutch entry for the Oscars.

Besides writing, directing, painting and animating for his animated films, Hisko composes the orchestral soundtracks for his own films.
Hisko made illustrations and storyboards for over 100 advertising- and production companies such as Saatchi & Saatchi and Czar. He directed and animated television leaders for MTV and Dutch broadcasting companies and created comics and illustrations for several newspapers.

In 2012 Hisko Hulsing was invited by Disney Studio and Dreamworks to present his film Junkyard to the artists.

In 2014 Hisko Hulsing and his team of animators made large animated sequences for Cobain: Montage of Heck, the first authorized documentary about Kurt Cobain, directed by Brett Morgen. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and has been theatrically released by Universal Pictures worldwide.
HBO broadcasted Cobain: Montage of Heck in May 2015.

The film was critically hailed all over the world.

Hisko Hulsing directed, and production designed Undone, an animated series for adults for Amazon Prime and Michael Eisner’s Tornante, written by Kate Purdy and Raphael Bob-Waksberg. Undone premiered in September 2019. It received a 100% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes and appeared in the Top Ten lists of the New York Times, Vanity Fair and Time Magazine, among others.

Season 2 of Undone was released on April 29 2022.

He directed, and production designed the bonus episode of The Sandman for Netflix called ‘A Dream of a Thousand Cats’. It was released on August 19, 2022.

ACTRESS (LAYLA M., MOCRO MAFFIA, BAGHDAD CENTRAL)

Nora El Koussour debuted with the leading role in the Toronto International Film Festival selection Layla M. for which she won the Gouden Kalf for Best Actress, 2077. She starred in successful films such as Marokkaanse Bruiloft (2022) and De Belofte van Pisa (2019) and the short films Nervosa, Stuckwitu, Harmonia and, most recently, Emotional Girl.

On television, she has appeared in successful series such as Kerstgezel.nl (2020, NPO), the British series Baghdad Central (2020, Channel 4) and Mocro Maffia (2018-2021, Videoland). She is also known for her stage work and will reprise her role in Emma Watson - The Play in December.

ACTRESS (EVIL, WESTWORLD, THE LEFTOVERS)

Katja Herbers is a Dutch actress well-known for her role as ‘Emily’ in the hit series, WESTWORLD, opposite Ed Harris. Before that, she was a series regular for two seasons on the critically-acclaimed series MANHATTAN created by Sam Shaw.

Additional television credits include the mini-series MANHUNT: UNABOMBER, a recurring role on the final season of THE LEFTOVERS and THE AMERICANS. Currently, Katja can be seen in the CBS TV series EVIL, opposite Mike Colter, in which she plays a clinical psychologist who joins a priest-in-training and a blue-collar contractor as they investigate supposed miracles, demonic possessions, and other extraordinary occurrences. This show is now on Season 3.

PROSTHETIC ARTIST (THE RINGS OF POWER, MATRIX 4, THE HOBBIT TRILOGY)

Rogier Samuels started his career 1994. Now based in Enschede, the Netherlands, his company Mimic-FX specializes in special make-up effects, special props and creature effects. With a track record of almost 30 years in the industry, Rogier has worked on productions big and small, like The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Penny Dreadful, Brimstone, Border, The Hobbit trilogy, Dirty God, Matrix 4, X, Antman 3, Rampvlucht and The Rings of Power.

What a series! What a story… we are extremely honoured to have the RAMPLUCHT team taking over our session! Rampvlucht just won the Golden Calf (aka Dutch Oscar) for Best Series and had more than 1 million viewers on its first episode. The last episode of this series was broadcast last Tuesday, and this series is creating a massive stir, with many questions still to be answered about what happened in Bijlmer 30 years ago. Join us next Tuesday to find out more regarding the making of this series and to welcome:

Michael Leendertse (Headwriter)
Yorick van Wageningen (Actor)
Lourens Blok (Director)
Edson da Conceição (Co-Director)
Fleur Winters (Producer)
Marlou Rutten (Head of Development)

Synopsis
October 4th, 1992, 18:36. A Boeing 747 crashes onto two jam-packed residential high rises in the Amsterdam Bijlmermeer. It’s Hell on Earth: burning residents jump from their balconies, families are suddenly torn apart, and rescue workers try to find their way through the thick smoke, searching for survivors beneath the rubble. But they find none. It was an Israeli cargo plane passing through the Netherlands on its way from New York to Tel Aviv.

The Dutch government soon claimed the airplane only carried perfume, flowers and computer parts. Yet both residents and aid workers are left with questions: Why did so many people start suffering severe health complaints after the disaster? How can the plane’s black box have gone missing? Who were the men in ‘white hazmat suits’, who were seen carrying something off from the scene? And why did the aviation authorities take the huge risk of leading the plane over a densely populated area instead of letting the pilots make an emergency landing in the fields outside of Amsterdam?

Almost everybody accepts the official account of the disaster, and they go back to business as usual. Except for our three protagonists, they start to look for answers.

We are thrilled to welcome the HALAL team as special guests! HALAL is one of the most fascinating film production companies in the Netherlands, constantly releasing exciting films, amazing music videos and outstanding commercials. Their films include PRINS, NEW KIDS, and KING OF THE CRUISE, but they have also worked with MADONNA, TKA WINGS, and brands such as G-Star and Nike, to only name a few.

Halal's list of directors includes some of the best talents of the new generation, and what director wouldn't like to be part of it?

We will welcome the HALAL team: GIJS DETERMEIJER (Commissioned, Co-Founder), GUUSJE VAN DEUREN (Head of Scripted) and some of their directors: MARLIES VAN DER WEL (Emily), and THESSA MEIJER (The Walking Fish).

We can’t wait to welcome director SHARIFF NASR and actor FAHD LARHZAOUI from the film EL HOUB as our Special Guests!!

EL HOUB is the first feature to discuss the sensitivity of coming out in the Dutch-Moroccan community, and it’s the debut feature film of director Shariff Nasr. The film can be seen now in cinemas, so don’t forget to check it out beforehand and bring all those burning questions to this session.

Synopsis:

Rotterdam, the Moroccan-Dutch Karim tells his parents that he is attracted to men. After years of keeping up appearances, the word is finally out. The difficult days that follow evoke beautiful and poignant memories. He realizes that he has to confront his family to finally break the silence. But in order to be accepted, he must come to terms with his own feelings first.

"... And now for something completely different" Next week, our special guests are talented people of the podcast ‘Op de vijfde rij’: CESAR MAJORANA and JELLE SCHOT!!

They want you to know something strange is happening with several film festivals in the Netherlands. Some don't seem to exist! For example, who has ever heard of the 'Amsterdam International Film Festival'? Dozens of prizes are handed out, but no film lover or journalist has ever been there.

Since the COVID pandemic, there has been a flood of these kinds of "events": film festivals that are not who they say they are and who make big money by making filmmakers pay for submitting their work.

Cesar and Jelle have investigated this for their podcast, and we can’t wait to have them on stage to know more about their findings.

In 'Op de vijfde rij' (On the fifth row), Cesar tells special film stories and takes listeners behind the scenes of the most important film festivals. This podcast is available (in Dutch) on podcast apps. ‘Op de vijfde rij’ is a podcast by VPRO Cinema and Eye Filmmuseum.

After MOCRO MAFFIA and HIGH FLYERS, director BOBBY BOERMANS is back with a new series and a film in the making! The series THE GOLDEN HOUR (HET GOUDEN UUR) is centred around the first hour after a national terrorist attack. This series can be seen on NPO3 every Sunday and stars Ellen Parren and Nasrdin Dchar. The 1st episode of this series reached half a million viewers and has been collecting good reviews from the press and audience. So much to talk about!

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Bobby Boermans made his feature debut with the first online feature film in the Netherlands: 'CLAUSTROFOBIA”. His second feature “, APP”, was the first feature film in the world using 2nd-screen technology for use inside cinemas. The remake rights were immediately sold to Hollywood.

After, he directed the TV drama “ROFFA” (Nominated for Grand Prix D’europe), followed by four seasons of the popular TV series “THE NEIGHBORS” for RTL. The series sold to Channel 4 in the UK and became the first Dutch drama series on AMAZON PRIME.

In 2015 he directed the comedy “FISSA” (Wasted), and in 2017, he led the spectacular musical “SKY”—the first 3D musical in the Netherlands.

He also directed the 2018 hit crime series "MOCRO MAFFIA" for streamer VIDEOLAND. The series was sold to 23 countries and reached over 50 million streams in the Netherlands.

A year later, in 2019, he joined forces with the Royal Dutch Airforce to direct the epic series HIGH FLYERS, shot on location in The Netherlands, Arizona, Texas, Morocco & Jordan.

Currently, he is directing the drama series THE GOLDEN HOUR, centred around the first hour after a national terrorist attack, starring Ellen Parren and Nasrdin Dchar. This series can be seen on NPO3 every Sunday. The 1st episode of this series reached half a million viewers.

We are thrilled to welcome JOY DELIMA as our special guest this session! It has been an explosion of Joy lately, and we could not be happier. Joy has been giving us flawless performances as the leading role in series such as DIRTY LINE (Netflix), RAMPVLUCHT (NPO+) and many more films and series and theatre performances such as FLIKKEN ROTTERDAM, MESKINA and more. Joy is also a writer and a columnist for Volkskrant Magazine. Her book debut will come out in February 2023. We can’t wait to learn more about her path so far and, of course, hear all about her future plans!

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Joy graduated from the Artez Academy of Dramatic Arts in Arnhem in 2019.

During her studies, Joy could already be seen in various plays with Toneelgroep Oostpool and Het Nationale Theater, such as Onze Straat, directed by Daria Bukvic, for which she received a nomination for most outstanding performance in a supporting role, The Colombina.

She wrote and co-directed a well-received solo play, Stamboom Monologen, about finding her heritage and even landed a permanent position at Ivo van Hove’s International Theater Amsterdam in 2020.

On television, Joy could be seen in Flikken Rotterdam, and she played in the feature Meskina. Joy also plays the lead in Netflix’s DIRTY LINES, screening worldwide. She further plays the leading role in Rampvlucht, Golden Calf winner for Best Series this year.

In 2023 she will play the lead in a new feature directed by Joosje Duk for Netflix.

There’s more: Joy is a writer and a columnist for Volkskrant Magazine. Her debut will come out in February 2023.

It’s BESTSELLER BOY time! This series is the first Dutch production of CBS Studios, together with Willy Waltz International - the production company of Norbert ter Hall and Robert Alberdingk Thijm - in coproduction with Avrotros and association with Paper Plane Productions. Bestseller Boy is based on the novel of the same name by Mano Bouzamour and can be seen at NPO 3 from 27 November. The team behind this series gave us many, many joys, such as DE BELOFTE VAN PISA, A'DAM - E.V.A. (and more). So of course, we are beyond excited!

NORBERT TER HALL (Producer/Director), ROBERT ALBERDINGK THIJM (Producer/Scriptwriter), and MANO BOUZAMOUR (Writer/Scriptwriter) will join us in this session. Can't wait to hear everything about Bestseller Boy before it gets on TV? Join us :)