Hans Kesting

Comedy about the adventures of a group of friends in Amsterdam, who are planning a party during their summer holiday. When the ticket sales are disappointing they think of a new and exiting way to attract more people to the party.

No novel has captivated and moved millions of readers during the past few years like A Little Life by American author Hanya Yanagihara. Ivo van Hove adapted Yanagihara’s novel to theater and created a penetrating performance. Ramsey Nasr won the Louis d'Or (best male performance) for his portrayal of Jude.

A cat who turns into a young woman helps a journalist protect their town from a factory boss with an evil plan.

A rich American couple, a family of Dutch criminals, a French gay couple, a working class family from Germany and an illegal Moroccan youth and his kid brother, are all in Amsterdam, each with their own story. Different reasons make their paths intertwine, leading to a dramatic climax that changes their lives for ever.

When three wealthy women hire a hit man to get rid of one of their cheating husbands, everything goes wrong.

The Netherlands are being threatened by a weird terrorist. The only one who can save The Netherlands from this terrorist seems to be Francois. He is a gay couturier who very much looks like the terrorist. They turn out to be twin brothers. Francois takes on the duty to pose as his brother to stop the terrorist activities.

Marian, a middle aged nurse, devotes herself to her patients like a saint. Sometimes she even takes on the role of a redeemer, by helping the gravely ill to the soothing order of ultimate silence. When she gets linked to a neighbor in an act of common voyeurism, she becomes fascinated by him. Faced with the fragility of these newfound emotions, Marian surrenders to her human needs

Professor Lupardi developed a weather machine with which he can change the climate and destroy the world. Can Captain Rob stop him?

In this worldwide bestseller, we watch four men over a period of more than thirty years: lawyer Jude, actor Willem, visual artist JB and architect Malcolm. The story is the history of their friendship, as they remain closely connected with each other during the rest of their lives. They develop their careers in the city where ambition and success are the indicators of a successful life: New York. Ivo van Hove adapts Hanya Yanagihara’s novel to theater and creates a penetrating performance.

Nine-year-old Johannes Blom gets blown away when he discovers a little man in the kitchen cupboard, hidden behind the peanut butter jar. He’s even more astonished when he realizes that this little man, ‘Wiplala’, has magical powers. When Wiplala accidentally transforms the Blom family to little people, the adventure begins. Will they ever go back to normal-sized people?

In Kings of War, director Ivo van Hove focuses on political leadership. The original texts were retranslated by Rob Klinkenberg and then thoroughly adapted: the Hundred Years' War between England and France, and the Rose Wars between the houses of Lancaster and York for the English throne, which are emphatically present as a historical context in the original pieces, were referred to the background in the adaptation in order to accommodate a varied portrait of successive kings. As leaders in times of political instability and war, they show remarkable affinities with world leaders today.

It is election night. Oedipus is on the verge of a massive victory. The country has not known a leader for many years since Laius' death. The ambitions are great. Oedipus wants to create a future, create a new way of life. He also insists, if elected, that the investigation into the death of his predecessor is reopened. In the meanwhile, in the half-empty campaign headquarters, Oedipus is surprised by his family - mother, wife and children - with a dinner. An old incident is thereby brought up. Gradually, Oedipus discovers that his past is very different from what he has always thought. During his research, the pieces of the puzzle fall together. Oedipus tries to control his fate, but discovers that he has been seeing blind all along.

By alternating documentary with fiction, a portrait is drawn of Peter van Straaten, eminent draughtsman of political cartoons, the long-term Parool serial Agnes and a countless series of painfully comical sketches of everyday life. Interviews with Van Straaten - outside, at home and at work - smoothly merge with dramatised excerpts from Agnes (played by people like Renée Fokker, Pierre Bokma and Hans Kesting). 'That's me, dressed up as a woman', he says about this creation. The camera peeks over his shoulder when Van Straaten makes his black-and-white drawings with pen and ink. His humour is harsh; he draws people in all their spinelessness, sadness and dishonesty, with a remarkable eye to facial expressions and postures. Through his drawings and stories, he also talks about his personal experiences with alcohol, relationships, family, health and sex - and his lifelong love for birds in the open field.

Little boy Kees is based on the famous classical masterpiece by Theo Thijssen and deals with a twelve year old Amsterdam schoolboy who grows up at the end of the 19th century in the Jordaan (part of Amsterdam. Kees Bakels is a dreamer who seeks refuge from reality with wild imagination where he dares more than in real life. Through his fathers illness and his young love for Rosa Overbeek he develops himself as someone who acts and assumes responsibility.

Not a single word is spoken in the mini-drama Anna II. The sounds and glances produced by the leading character, the cow Anna II, are telling enough. Her mooing and smacking minutely convey her displeasure with her farmer's budding conjugal bliss. When, on the morning after the wedding night, he enters the cowshed but does not pay enough attention to his prize cow yet, Anna II has had it. The cow's sultry gaze registers how the bride brings the farmer a cup of coffee.

When popular college kid Max sees his finals at risk, he calls in the help of his long lost and nerdy friend Ruben. Together with the comedic help of "chick-magnet" and Marroccon street hustler Youseff, they decide to throw the biggest exams-party ever dreamt possible, while getting to know themselves and each other in a thorough manner.

Hannah and her non-binary teenager Frances visit her gay grandfather Jimpa in Amsterdam. Frances expresses a desire to stay with their grandfather for a year, challenging Hannah's parenting beliefs and forcing her to confront past issues.

Based on Ibsen, Simon Stone wrote and directed a grand family saga about the troublesome but inevitable coexistence of different generations under one roof. Maarten Heijmans received the Arlecchino (best male performance in a supporting role) for his portrayal of Sebastiaan.

Well-known novelist and literary monument, 55-year-old Jan Meerman's successful life is thrown upside down when his 85-year-old mother, Josée Verbeke, unexpectedly has a severe stroke. Jan no longer recognizes his once lively mother as her verbal witticisms have been replaced by pitiful cries and gibberish. In these difficult times Jan faces the upcoming deadline of his new novel. The confrontation he has to engage with the decline of his mother makes him question his priorities.

The tragic story of Vincent van Gogh broadened by focusing as well on his brother Theodore, who helped support Vincent. Based on the letters written between the two.

A young Amsterdam lawyer seems to be doing well, but occasionally he is overwhelmed by an unstoppable need for booze. During one of his delirious episodes, he witnesses the death of a squatter at a police station. Worried about his career, he hesitates to speak out.

Just when Timo is trying to win back his ex-girlfriend by convincing her with his new and improved life, he and his friends are caught up in a drugs conflict. To stay alive, four ordinary guys need to sell 22 kilos of drugs within a week.

A coming of age story of three young friends during their student years in Amsterdam.

Xander's parents are murdered by criminals. Xander is housed by the police with his uncle; potato farmer Jaap.

Handsome, clever final year law student Koen avoids being beaten up by street thugs by claiming he's a maternal cousin of crime baron Henk de Koning. The next day, 'uncle' Henk praises Koen's wit and commandeers his 'cousin's' help to retrieve the treasure presumably hidden by disloyal accomplice Sjon de Nooyer, who was released from jail to a retirement home, by volunteering as an orderly, posing as Sjon's distant relative. Dirty police detective Uitenhaage is after the same fortune, and leans independently on innocent Koen to spy on Sjon.

Feature film about the life of Aletta Jacobs (1854-1929). Aletta Jacobs knows from an early age that she wants to become a doctor. She asks Thorbecke to allow her to attend university and, after completing her studies, becomes the first female doctor in Amsterdam. Here, she focuses in particular on sexual problems in women and campaigns for universal suffrage. Director Nouchka van Brakel appears in the film as an interviewer who questions contemporaries about the life and work of Dr. Jacobs. The interviews give an impression of the flood of negative reactions that the feminist provoked. However, when Aletta looks back on her life at the end of the film, many photos and letters show how much she was ultimately appreciated.

In pre-WWII Holland, the penniless, illegitimate son of a powerful bailiff sets out to become a lawyer as he spends a lifetime struggling to prove his worth to his relentlessly spiteful father.

Anna is a vital woman who is married and has two daughters. She picks up her old passion of writing again after frequent requests by a colleague and a friend, but she had not foreseen the consequences of family and friends reading her stories...

A romantic comedy told with a set of interwoven Christmas tales about life, love, forgiveness and caring. A heroic vagrant becomes a TV sensation Santa Claws, while a prince takes a menial job at a department store to woo his sweetheart.

A stubborn stage actor navigates single fatherhood, a strenuous theatre project, an adulterous love affair, and the confounding dreams awakened by a puzzling street encounter with a mysterious stranger.

Lily works as a checkout girl at the local supermarket. She becomes pregnant, but before the child is born, the black father is attacked by skinheads and killed. Following his death, she flees to the city, where she soon finds herself under the wings of a pimp, Ted. Escaping Ted, she commences a one-woman spree of thefts, culminating in running from the police and the press. In the end, Lily must make a choice between freedom, and her baby.

Kings of War merges Henry V, Henry VI and Richard III into one explosive performance about leadership. In successive kings, Shakespeare sketches an image of political leaders, face to face with the ultimate responsibility for life and death in times of war. Shakespeare’s kings are political leaders who come face to face with the ultimate responsibility: they must make the life-or-death decision of whether to go to war. Shakespeare draws us into the psychology of the rulers, while also revealing the machinations of their courtiers and advisors. Kings of War lays bare the mechanisms of decision-making in times of political crisis, exposing the dichotomy between national interests and self-importance.

In Roman tragedies, Ivo van Hove and Jan Versweyveld have created a unique arena in which Shakespeare speaks about our time more than ever and the political game in all its facets.

Ivo van Hove's direction of Les Damnés had its world premiere as the opening performance of the Festival d'Avignon. This theatrical adaptation, based on a film script by Italian film director Luchino Visconti, shows how a family of rich German industrialists is fatally corrupted by its collaboration with the Nazi party that has come to power. Family patriarch Baron Joachim resists and is liquidated. The struggle for the succession leads to an escalation of intrigues and manipulations, betrayal and murder.

In the Nazi-occupied Netherlands, high-profile Dutch resistance member Gerrit Kleinveld sets out to escape from the maximum-security prison in Amersfoort concentration camp.

When sixtysomething Bob's life collapses in work, health, and love, he rediscovers the power of true connection with the help of his loyal friends.

In 1988, three young gay men, Ronnie, Lennart and Bas, throw themselves into Amsterdam's nightlife scene. It’s a life full of friendship, sex and drugs. Until the mysterious AIDS virus casts a shadow over their lives and one of them disappears after becoming infected. Thirty-two years later, in the middle of the 2021 lockdown, Ronnie recognises the missing Bas in the subway. An evening unfolds that none of them had expected to see, but which had been in the air for years. The AIDS epidemic has had a major impact on all three of their lives. Where they lost each other 32 years ago, they hope to find each other again.