Martijn Maria Smits
Directing
Known For

In this drama, Ben is faced with the anger and grief of his entire village when, inebriated, he causes a road accident in which his girlfriend Tinka dies. Ben is sent to prison and his resentful in-laws get custody of his little daughter Cindy. When Ben after two years returns to the southern village of Waldstille, he intends to restore contact with Cindy as soon as possible - despite opposition from his parents-in-law.
Waldstille
When a German teacher meets a new student, she is confronted with a traumatic event from her past. Struggling with her grief on her own, she falls prey to impulses she could've never imagined. Not her grief, but the battle for self-control turns out te be her greatest enemy.
Voor Emilia
She came from the Ukraine to the Netherlands for work, but was forced to prostitution. Now she has to choose: Help an innocent child and risk everything or live on as an illegal prostitute to help her own family.
Under the Weight of Clouds
Martin loses his job as a result of the financial crisis. Together with his wife, Jasmijn, and their one year-old child, they are forced to move in with Jasmijn’s parents in their flat in Antwerp on a temporary basis’. The love between Martin and Jasmijn rapidly deteriorates. Martin seems to be living in a world of his own and refuses to lower himself into signing on at the employment office. He wanders through town and hangs round near the flat where they used to live. He finds a happy family there. Martin can’t accept that they have the happiness that he couldn’t have and decides to destroy their happiness just like his happiness was destroyed – in his view. When Jasmijn finds out they aren’t eligible for a new house because Martin never signed on at the employment office, it means the bombshell’s been dropped.
Anvers
Once a week, Frank visits Eva. One day, being very tired, he falls asleep in her bed.
Diary #2

A portrait of a family, but above all the story of a teenager whose life seems to be pushed off track by the lack of a normal family and desperately, purely by instinctive battle, tries to lift himself out of his wretched, semi-feral existence.
C'est déjà l'été

Awkward and touching moments at a wedding party where two ex-lovers are forced to spend the evening together. While the booze flows liberally and people around them are deliriously sweating and dancing to corny music, he makes advances. The initial chill between the former couple is extra painful because of the ebullient merrymakers and the budding happiness around them. Still, their love appears to have survived, although the old wounds haven’t completely healed either.