Dutch feature films and documentaries don’t get made without international coproduction partners anymore. The Netherlands Film Fund calls this standard procedure now.
Sandra den Hamer led the Fund for three years. She’s stepping down. Under her watch, the organization gave bigger budgets to select projects and started paying bonuses to filmmakers who landed major festival slots.
Dutch films showed up at Berlinale and SXSW this year. Meanwhile, the domestic box office dropped 14% to €308 million.
The Fund built stronger ties with Belgian counterparts. They run joint promotions at markets like EFM and Cannes. Regional cooperation moved from one-on-one deals to multilateral structures.
Several Dutch directors switched to English. Production values got better with larger international budgets.
Local market share dropped from 17% to 14%. Festival presence climbed.
The Fund’s second NL Wave showcase in Utrecht will go ahead. Workshops at Ostend Film Festival continue as planned.
They’ll announce a successor. Current strategies will keep rolling.
