Once Upon Amsterdam

Dec 31, 2021

1h 0m

★ 8.5

Life in a day in Amsterdam in the summer of 2005

Overview

Presents a day in the life in Amsterdam, a city in transformation, captured shortly after the turn of the millennium, and shortly before the digital revolution would speed up the pace of life considerably. Shot in a fly-on-the-wall style.

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

Runlevel Two Productions

Yellow Angle Film

Once Upon Amsterdam Trailers

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Cast

No Cast found.

In 1917, French artist Marcel Duchamp declared everyday objects as art. A provocative act that sparked a heated, still topical discussion around the question: what is art? Since then, that question has been asked time and time again. To the artist and to the viewer. If everything is possible and everything is allowed, how do you remember what art is? Director Ditteke Mensink spent two years at De Ateliers: the breeding ground for top talent in the visual arts. Her stay ended in a harsh confrontation with herself, the young artists and modern visual arts.

6.1

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0.0

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0.0

Mijn Noord

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The working-class Tuindorp Nieuwendam neighborhood in Amsterdam-Noord is like a village within the city. Many natives of the Northern Netherlands still live in the characteristically built houses, a unique variation on the Amsterdam School. With humor and Amsterdam directness, they share their stories about what's happening in their lives and in the neighborhood. Recently, a new generation of residents has also discovered the Noord district. How do residents view these changes and the neighborhood's transformation? Was everything better in the past, or are new connections emerging between residents, old and new?

0.0

Sexwork, Love & Mr Right

Oct 1, 2013

Amsterdam's world-famous red-light district is the fascinating backdrop to the story of plucky prostitute Lina as she searches for Mr Right. Lina thinks she has found true love with American punter Sean, but she may be treading a fine line between fantasy and reality. Could Sean be her Prince Charming or will she end up heartbroken? With hard-won access to this notoriously secretive, hidden world, Sexwork, Love & Mr Right will be a revealing and thought-provoking documentary with multiple supporting narratives from experienced punters to wise madams. As streetwise sexworker Lina navigates the highs and lows of her precarious new relationship, the film asks can sexworkers ever really find true love?

6.0

Mother Land

Feb 2, 2022

When filmmaker Mari Soppela took her children and husband to live for a year on a sacred mountain in her native Finland, she was fulfilling a lifelong dream to share the arctic wilderness of her childhood with her family. But when years later her children turn the camera onto her, she is forced to confront her motivation for filming their lives in this searching and searingly honest cinematic exploration of identity, belonging and motherhood. Filmed over the course of 27 years, Mother Land challenges us all to examine the landscapes we carry within us and the narratives we create to make sense of our lives.

7.8

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Mar 7, 2003

Hugo Chavez was a colourful, unpredictable folk hero who was beloved by his nation’s working class. He was elected president of Venezuela in 1998, and proved to be a tough, quixotic opponent to the power structure that wanted to depose him. When he was forcibly removed from office on 11 April 2002, two independent filmmakers were inside the presidential palace.

6.8

Occupied City

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The past collides with the present in this excavation of the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam: a journey from World War II to recent years of pandemic and protest and a provocative, life-affirming reflection on memory, time and what's to come.

0.0

In Old Amsterdam

Nov 12, 1949

This Traveltalks entry looks at the sights, sounds, people, and art masterpieces in the capital of the Netherlands.

7.7

Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks

Jun 9, 2004

A detailed look at the gradual decline of Shenyang’s industrial Tiexi district, an area that was once a vibrant example of China’s socialist economy. But industry is changing, and the factories of Tiexi are closing. Director Wang Bing introduces us to some of the workers affected by the closures, and to their families.

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9.0

Solo, Piano

Dec 11, 2012

On a cold winter morning, a lone piano stands curbside in New York City. All day long, passersby stop to play. They collect and disperse, measure and push. Who abandons a piano? Plinking slightly out-of-tune over the white noise of Broadway's cars, buses, trucks, and sirens, the piano awaits its fate. Solo, Piano - NYC is a 5-minute film of the last 24 hours of a once-wanted piano.

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0.0

Megalopolis I

Jan 1, 1963

First film by Pim de la Parra, about a young Surinamese man in Amsterdam who delivers a “monologue interior” about his dissatisfaction with society and his position as an outsider.

0.0

In the Name of the Law

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Partially staged documentary by Barbara den Uyl investigates the case of Hans Kok, the squatter who was found dead in an Amsterdam police cell in October 1985.

4.2

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High Class Call Girls is a a revealing glimpse into the lives of Emily B and Cookie Jane, two self-dubbed high class call girls who charge thousands of pounds for a night with clients who find them through new location-based apps.

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7.0

Lyrical Nitrate

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Compilation of film clips from 1905-1915, found footage of silent movies and documentaries from the Jean Desmet Archive of the Netherlands Film Museum. Jean Desmet was one of the first Dutch film distributors. Lyrisch nitraat is a tribute to the craftsmanship of early filmmakers, but also shows the brittleness of old nitrate films. Composed as an opera about love and death, set to music by Bizet, Masek and Puccini.

4.3

Hookers on Davie

Apr 4, 1984

Filmmakers Holly Dale and Janis Cole explore the culture of Davie Street, located in the underbelly of Vancouver, where dozens of prostitutes work and live every day. Surprisingly, they find that the sex trade there is stable and largely non-violent, and that the women who work on Davie Street meet daily to discuss safety and health issues and don't use pimps. The film also includes candid interviews with the prostitutes and footage of negotiations with potential clients.

9.0

Nigella’s Amsterdam Christmas

Dec 21, 2023

Nigella returns for a very special Christmas treat when she travels to Amsterdam to enjoy the festive season in the Venice of the North.

3.0

Sexwork & Me

Jan 1, 2012

21st century legal prostitution through the frank stories of Amsterdam red-light district sex workers at a time when tighter regulation threatens their livelihood.

5.0

Night Lunch

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This is Poe and Král's first effort, shot on small-gauge stock, before their more well-known endeavor The Blank Generation (1976) came to be. A "DIY" portrait of the New York music scene, the film is a patchwork of footage of numerous rock acts performing live, at venues like Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the dive bars of Greenwich Village and, of course, CBGB.

Once Upon Amsterdam

Overview

Genres

Production Companies

Once Upon Amsterdam Trailers

Cast

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