IJswater Films

Abigail (Abi) is 6 years old and lives in the Bijlmer. Every day, something happens there that piques her interest. Even just one door down, she finds herself in a completely different culture. And she meets some extraordinary people. In this ten-part preschool drama series, Abi experiences a special birthday, funeral rituals, rivalry, and friendship, among other things. A fun series for parents and children!

Rayco, an 8-year-old boy, and his sister Paula, 14, kill time as they anxiously await crabs arrival in Tenerfe. But their mother has become pregnant by a foreigner and their lives could change before the crab arrives on the island.

Marc-Antoine and Mickael are staying every winter behind on a by tourists abandoned island. Like their friends they are also full of plans to leave for the mainland, but is Marc-Antoine able to escape his solidified routine?

A young father and mother meet each other by their little son’s hospital bed. From their terse sentences, but especially from their mutual discomfort, you can tell they are divorced and rarely talk to each other. Because their son has to stay overnight for observation, the parents are forced to spend the night together. This also forces the viewer to observe how much is left of their relationship.

Twelve-year-old Kai and his best friend Thomas are inseparable. Together they are everything, alone they are nothing. Until the first day of the new schoolyear, when a new girl is in their class that Thomas fancies. Short drama sees Kai frenetically trying to win back his pal. He gradually loses control and makes a choice that will determine the rest of his life.

What happens if someone loses control over his own life and at the same time searches for grip in ascending and descending devices? A winterly story about loss, desire and airplanes.

Father explores the relationship of a dad and son who haven’t been in touch in the last years. While he tries to reconnect with his son in the present, he reflects with his girlfriend on the past.

A sturdy flight attendant has to deliver a child in mid-air and gets involved in a confusing mother/lover relationship with a boy who's living under the streets of Bucharest.

Nine-year-old Daan is really excited about taking up swimming when he discovers his mother's old swimming medals in the attic. When his school teacher encourages him to join the nearest local swimming club, Daan finds out that his mother is definitely not amused. She is afraid that Daan inherited her cardiac problems. Despite his mothers fears, Daan doesn't wait and starts training behind her back.

When there is a break-in in her home, interior buyer Helen (38) is in shock. Many of her possessions with which she had dear relationships are taken from her. With this theft, she discovers that she has lost a part of herself that is not easy to replace.

The Spanish family Gabarre-Mendoza is celebrating a birthday, when it is interrupted by a police inspection. In ‘La Cañada Real’, a shanty town just outside Madrid, the inhabitants are forced to leave their illegal homes. Each member of the family struggles in their own way with their unstable position.

A woman is forced to confront her apathy to the murders she witnesses every evening.

Renate is left behind in a department store after breaking up with her boyfriend there.

Fifteen-year-old Lucas runs away from a youth care institution and takes to his heels. Before returning, he and director Tim Bary visit several places and people. This documentary closely follows Lucas on this jaunt . Meanwhile, Lucas shares more about his background and his dreamed, free life. He eats ravenously, smokes a joint and bellows out his frustrations about youth care, judges and other authorities across the sea. A truthful portrait of a boy caught between two worlds. Who has a place for Lucas?

A story about the 14 year old Heleen who makes the transition of child to adult with pain and effort in the wild 70s. While her parents going to divorce she is exploring the world of sex, drugs and love on her own.

What do you do if you want to keep reality at a distance? You put a camera in between, just like the boy that unrelentingly lets his camera run at his father’s funeral. His mother can order him to put the thing away as much as she wants, the son keeps capturing what his eyes don’t want to see and his heart doesn’t want to feel. In the process, the handheld perspective also represents the mourning of a child who’d obviously rather play than weep.

Mia was born in the dark of an underground waste dump. While living her days sorting out waste, she has always been dreaming of a better life above ground. Her pregnancy suddenly makes this dream a necessity. She starts traveling the underground dump, searching for a better life for her unborn child.

We follow Thea and Albert-jan, two members of the outreach care team of Groningen city, during the intensive pathway they go through with their clients. The outreach care team tries to help bringing people that have slipped through the socialsecurity net, back into the system of regular care facilities before their situation gets even more poignant.

The story is about Ester, a nine-year-old girl, who has to conquer her fear of unfamiliar surroundings. Together with her father she moves into a new neighborhood where she is being ignored by the other children living there. One day when her father has to work, he tells her to go and play at Ms. Richmond's. Outside the children from the neighborhood warn Ester for Ms. Richmond. The story goes that Ms. Richmond used to have lots of children, but that they were all eaten by her toilet. A bit disturbed, Ester visits Ms. Richmond. During her visit she learns that Ms. Richmond and her toilet are quite different from what she imagined them to be. With this visit she conquers her fear, gains her confidence, and earns respect from the children in the neighborhood.