Estelle Bovelander graduated in photography at The Royal Academy of Art, The Hague. She has produced more than 30 documentary films for various production companies and works regularly with acclaimed documentary directors, such as Menna Laura Meijer, Sabine König and Paul Cohen. She has been a freelance producer for Zuidenwind Filmproductions for the past eight years, producing documentaries in the USA, UK, South Sudan, Egypt, Niger, Burkina Faso, Germany and at home in the Netherlands.

Besides documentary producing Estelle has worked for Fortissimo Film Sales, was FORUM producer at IDFA FORUM and worked for a variety of other festivals. For the Dutch Museum of National History she produced 45 short films as content for the smartphone app ’X Was Here’.

“Documentaries tell us stories about the world we live in – whether next door or about places beyond our imagination. They give us new perspectives and more things to consider. That is what makes documentary films valuable for me.
“When we produce internationally we apply a broader range to the film. A stronger foundation helps to enhance the quality of the film; it means more possibilities for the production itself as well as the distribution.In co-producing, we meet new people and learn creative solutions from each other. A fresh input broadens our frame of thinking. This helps the process of filmmaking, and creates a strong framework for the director.It is, for me, very inspiring to work in supportive co-operation, with new communication technologies, building the basic structure of the production.”

Iris Lammertsma runs JvdW film with director Boudewijn Koole. The company focuses on creative, social and youth documentaries and on dance films, its particular strengths being concept development and intensive coaching of the filmmakers. The resulting films are innovative, visually powerful, challenging and strong in content. The company also looks to develop young talent. Because of the specific expertise JvdW film has at its disposal (Boudewijn Koole has much experience in giving direction to fledgling film-makers), Lammertsma believes they are in an excellent position to achieve this.

Recent productions include Off Ground (Boudewijn Koole and Jakop Ahlbom), Tonight we’ll become women (Josefien Hendriks), The Spoiler (Sanne Rovers) and Happily Ever After (Tatjana Bozic). Lammertsma is currently producing and developing several (inter)national documentaries such as Plaza de la Soledad (Maya Goded), Gay Marriage Chinese Style (Sophia Luvara), Transit Havana (Daniel Abma) and Bring Home the Jews (Eefke Blankevoort/Arnold van Bruggen).

“At JvdW film we work internationally. We co-produce several international documentaries and are actively searching for international co-productions. I attend documentary festivals worldwide, in search of co-producers and co-productions. I think it is continually necessary to expand our focus to the international workfield, in order to create vivid, innovative and intelligent documentaries for a wide audience.”

Wout Conijn works as a producer and director at his company Conijn Film. In 2005 he graduated from the Film Academy as director with his film My Turn which was selected in IDFA Highlights of the Lowlands section, winning the Tuschinski Award. His stated ambition is to offer the conditions for delivery of creative excellence, and is currently focusing his production efforts on the next documentary film of Tom Fassaert, whose An Angel in Doel was selected for Berlinale Forum 2011. In 2013 he produced his first fiction feature, How to Describe a Cloud by David Verbeek, which was selected for IFFR Spectrum.

“On a 9-month journey by bike, across the Himalayas I developed a global consciousness. Travelling through all those countries gave me the inspiration to become a documentary director. My award winning graduation movie at the Amsterdam Film Academy was shot in seven countries across four different continents. As a producer I’m working on international projects focussing on global audiences. I am currently working on three documentaries with directors from mixed backgrounds, namely South Africa, Israel and Iraq. Conijn Film is an advocate of international co-production, both in documentary and fiction projects.”

Roel Oude Nijhuis is partner and documentary producer at 100% Halal, an Amsterdam-based film production company and photography agency. Recent productions include It’s in the Sky (2013, Sarah Domogala), about how fashion trends are connected to the spirit of the times and to our deepest values, and Kookaburra Love (2013, Sjoerd Oostrik), a voyeuristic documentary about love and violence. Also in 2013 came the company’s Louis the Ferris Wheel Kid (Tara Fallaux), about a traveller child whose life in the funfair comes to an end when he has to attend high school.

The 2012 Youth of Today (Sam de Jong and Sjoerd Oostrik) is a portrait of three young people and their struggles in growing up. The company’s 2011 Kyteman, Now what? (Menna Laura Meijer) is about the phenomenally successful young jazz trumpeter who calls time on his career after his first album.

“The documentaries we produce at 100% Halal are often conceptual in nature and have a strong visual language. For me, the aesthetics of a film are as much a storytelling device as the subject matter. To tell good stories a balance between form and concept is key. Finding this balance takes a long and watchful process between the director and producer.
“All of the work we make at 100% Halal focusses on an international audience, be it fiction, documentary or commercial film. As a documentary developer and producer I try to go beyond the ordinary. In a search for new stories you need to be inquisitive by nature and reflective upon what happens around you.”

Ilja Roomans commenced her career in 1998 at TV DITS, the documentary production house of renowned filmmaker Ireen van Ditshuyzen. In 2003, after 5 years of production work, Ilja took up the position of executive producer for Van Ditshuyzen’s projects. After the incorporation of TV DITS into IDTV, Ilja continued in the role of executive producer until 2011. Since then, she has worked as line producer at Submarine expanding her experience to include international co-productions and animation.

Projects include The Successor of Kakiemon (Suzanne Raes/Submarine), Poor Us - an animated history of Poverty (Ben Lewis/Submarine), Off the Grid (Alexander Oey/Submarine), The Only Son (Simonka de Jong, IDTV Docs) and The Rainbow Warriors of Waiheke Island (Suzanne Raes/IDTV Docs).

“To me producing means creating the right atmosphere for a project to flourish: organising the production structure for the financing of the film, and balancing the needs of a production with the creative needs of the director. Key to my approach is creative problem solving, creating an atmosphere of open communication, and keeping focus on the goals of production, combined with attention to detail.”

Judith Vreriks has over ten years of experience of producing, writing and researching feature documentaries. Early in her career her short documentary Schoolyard (2005) and medium-length Esmiralde, sixteen years in 9 scenes (2007), were broadcast by Dutch broadcaster HUMAN, and in 2007 she was nominated for the Dutch Award for New Film and Television Makers. When at Cobos Film she worked closely with award-winning Dutch filmmakers John Appel (The Player) and Heddy Honigmann (Forever). Since October 2011 she has been executive producer for Zeppers Film. Recently finished productions include the multiple award-winning feature documentary 900 Days by Jessica Gorter.

“What comes first is my passion. There are so many reasons to make documentaries, but for me it all starts with the urge to listen to, and to tell stories to, as many people as possible, and to open up to what documentary makers have to say or want to show.
“I see myself as a kind of a wall for the director to lean against when needed, to pin up little memory cards or whatever. And I always hope they see me as a second or inner voice, and as a companion. And of course finding the audience, through festivals, broadcasters, releases, is in itself a completely different process that I’d like to develop further.”