Hester Overmars

A year-long profile of the Artemis String Quartet. Just before celebrating its 30-year anniversary, the Berlin based Artemis Quartet goes through one of its most turbulent years to date. When the last founding member, cellist Eckart Runge, decides to leave the quartet in 2018, with second violinist Anthea Kreston following his departure, the quartet is shaken to its core. They agree to stay together until the end of the season, giving the remaining members the chance to reconstruct the quartet once more. Will the shared love for music be strong enough for the Artemis Quartet to persevere? Filmmaker Hester Overmars portrays the quartet, its former and new members, throughout this extraordinary year, having full access to their rehearsals, life behind the scenes and international performances. From up close, the film observes how the quartet lives through their reconstruction.

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The Art of Being Free follows a moving conversation between Dutch TV icon Paul Haenen (77) and writer Lale Gül (27), who connect over their shared fight for personal and artistic freedom. Inspired by each other's books, they reflect on themes of identity, religion, family, autonomy, and being role models. Haenen, openly gay since 1964, and Gül, who challenged conservative Islam in 2021, explore what it means—and costs—to live freely. Directed by Hester Overmars, this tender and timely documentary is a powerful dialogue on courage, expression, and the human need for authenticity.

The adventurous Peter Paul worked his way up through the police force from the late 1990s to become a specialist in the Special Investigative Applications Service (DSRT), better known as the ‘stealth section’. As an undercover agent, he found himself among the Netherlands’ most notorious criminals, placing listening devices in cars, houses and flats, once even dangling from a block of flats.

“The Principal Wife” is an impressive and moving demonstration of how to trace one's family history even if no one is willing to talk about it. At its centre is the 38-year-old painter Marijke van der Meulen, whose mother Aagje left her and the family to join a Christian sect when her daughter was eight.