
Margien Rogaar
Directing
Biography
Margien Rogaar is a Dutch film director based in Amsterdam. She works on feature films as well as television drama. Her work focuses on the theme of growing up and getting wiser. After she graduated from the Netherlands Film Academy she worked on several shorts and single plays for the Dutch Television. Her short film Breath was selected for Cannes. Together with theatre group Wunderbaum she made her first feature film Maybe Sweden, a film about five friends who come to Spain to read books in a holiday villa and get confronted with Ghanese refugees on their way to Europe. After that she directed Bon Voyage and Bouwdorp (Scrap Wood War/ Die Baumhauskönige). Both are films she developed with scriptwriter Tijs van Marle and concentrate on the lives of children and their families. Bouwdorp had a German distribution in cinema. Margien completed two television series for children. Doctor Cheesy is an adventurous story about five children who escape from fat camp in order to get a Hamburger. In 2016 she made Alleen op de Wereld, a contemporary Christmas feuilleton based on the book Sans Famille (Nobody’s Boy: Remi) by Hector Malot. Alleen op de Wereld is nominated for an Emmy Award.
Known For

This elaborate and curated fairy tale adventure tells the story of Lampje, the lighthouse keeper's daughter, who has to climb a grand staircase every evening to light the lantern and shrink ships before the rocks. One night, in the midst of an approaching storm, she finds that her matches have run out - disaster strikes and an adventure begins.
Lampje

Orphan Remi (13) goes on a incredible journey to find his family.
Remi, Nobody's Boy

A 12-year-old boy who is yet to feel the first trembles of love. He is shy when a girl calls him for a bike ride and then at the beach it becomes clear that he is a bit embarrassed of his body, as he struggles behind a towel to change into his swimming suit.
Breath

Elliot Tittensor (TV's Shameless) stars as Daz in headlining film PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I WANT, a gripping British film debut that sees him woo a young lad in an underpass, only to be threatened with a break-up the following morning. Passive and submissive roles are tackled and tugged in gay graffiti tale VANDALS and Icelandic grapple-fest WRESTLING, while POSTMORTEM, MY NAME IS LOVE, and Iris Prize-winner STEAM look at promising encounters that turn awry. Rounding out the collection are HEIKO, an alternative ode to foot fetishes, BREATH where 12-year-old Erik swims out to sea to make a daring move on his best friend's father, and the crème de la crème from this collection TREVOR, which won multiple prestigious awards from Sundance, Berlinale, and even The Academy Awards (Oscar) for Best Short Film.
Boys On Film 4: Protect Me From What I Want
11-year old Lampie lives wither Dad in a lighthouse and every evening lights the lamp for the ships. One stormy night, there is a catastrophe: Lampie gets separated from her father and ends up in the mysterious Black House. But there, nothing is as she expected. With new friends, Lampie puts all her efforts into being reunited with her Dad. A magical fairytale about friendship, courage and tolerance.
Lampie
A Dutch family on their last full day of their camping holiday in France. On the moment that nobody wants to join father Aad on the traditional hiking tour, everybody experiences their own adventure.
Au Cigogne!

Remi (played by Julian Ras) is a foundling, but apart from that he's just a normal boy, who lives an ordinary life together with Betty Barbarin, the mother who found him. Untill his eleventh birthday, when a big truck stops at their door and Betty's husband returns home after many years. Jerome thinks it's too much, two men under one roof. He takes Remi with him in his truck and abondons him at a gasstation.There Remi is found for the second time in his life. He travels with Vitalis and his animals in their old van. This is the beginning of an adventurous journey in which Remi makes and loses friends and through all the ups and downs finally finds his happiness.
Alleen op de wereld

At their annual summer building club ‘Camp Scrapwood’, best friends Ziggy (12) and Bas (12) find themselves on opposing sides for the first time in their lives. At summer club, best friends Ziggy and Bas (12) are on opposing sides for the first time in their lives. Different secondary schools, different parental expectations and now falling in love with the same girl lead to all-out war between them. They begin to fight. Initially, tougher Bas fights hard, but soon has doubts about the row. Meanwhile, the gentle Ziggy gradually toughens up and becomes determined to win… A family film about friendship, love, jealousy… and being a boy.
Scrapwood War

Jaap Peter, a lively 16 year old boy, eagerly prepares for his older sister's wedding at their beloved grandfather's country house. As the whole family rallies together to create the perfect celebration, Jaap Peter falls in love for the first time. But when the girl of his dreams is smitten with his younger sister instead, Jaap Peter is disheartened. Through the chaos and tender moments, Jaap Peter learns that his presence and the unbreakable bond of his family are vital in ensuring the wedding's success.
Jippie No More!

A grandfather doesn't tell his daughter and grand children he is seriously ill until just before their holiday.
Bon Voyage
A retired truck driver is fishing. He catches a tiny fish and throws it back. 'Do you fancy green beans tonight?', his wife asks him from behind her crossword puzzle. When they leave, they see that a group of Poles are catching huge fish, and eating them. The wife is incensed, but her husband is curious about the cheeky group. 'Why do they catch such big fish and he does not?' He puts on his top boots and starts investigating.
Over vis & revolutie

Maybe Sweden is about five book worms on a reading holiday in a beautiful country house somewhere in South Europe. By the pool, in the hammock and even round the campfire they are buried in their books. Or they discuss literature. This changes when they come across a sleeping Ghanaian in the garden. The rather mousy Mira takes care of his ill mother and, soon, of other stranded boat people. The haven of peace changes into an aid station, not to everyone's pleasure. Harmless collisions - does the Ghanaian have to read Michel Houellebecq to gain a better understanding of Europe? - get out of hand more and more, until the idyll crumbles.