Maarten de Kroon

One million Dutchmen (out of 16 million) play soccer. Almost two million fish at least once a year. Fishing might be the most remarkable sport in the world. The documentary V.I.S.S.E.N (FISHING) dives into the world of Dutch fish and fishermen. Above and under water, on the IJ, at the coast, on the North Sea, in the cities, in the polder and on and by lakes and rivers. The film is a personal, filmic search for the “primordial fisher” in mankind and a portrait of the Netherlands by and on the water. V.I.S.S.E.N is also about what moves the fishermen. Who are the people that fish? Is fishing a hobby, a sport, an escape or a primordial instinct one cannot repress? What goes through your mind when you fish, when you catch something, or when you do not catch anything. And: what's it like for the fish, getting hooked?

There's an ancient myth that the light in Holland is different from anywhere else, but it has never been put to the test. It's the legendary light we see in paintings.

MYSTERIOUS MASTERPIECE (Cold Case Torrentius) is a documentary film by Maarten de Kroon, one of the makers of the prizewinning documentary Dutch Light, made in cooperation with Jeanne van der Horst. We investigate the incredible case of the 17th century Dutch painter known as Johannes Torrentius, born Johannes Symonsz. van der Beeck (1589-1644). A hallucinating story about a libertine and genius painter, tolerance and intolerance and torture and one mysterious painting.