During World War II in the freezing winter of 1944-45 the western Netherlands are in the grip of a famine. Many people move east to provide for their families. Fourteen year old Michiel can't wait to join the Dutch resistance, to the dismay of his father, who, as mayor, works to prevent escalations in the village.
An eccentric multimillionaire signs an agreement to have his life ended. While selecting his coffin he meets a young woman who has signed up for the same arrangement. Trouble ensues when the couple falls in love and wishes to get out of the contract.
In this dreamlike film, a nameless father and his son, Aleksei, live together in an apartment in St. Petersburg. Aleksei's mother has died and consequently the two have a very close relationship. When Aleksei acquires a girlfriend, she refuses to take a back seat to his bond with his dad, and breaks up with him. Aleksei is also experiencing nightmares, dreading separation from his father to be a part of the military as his father was.
1969. Nine-year old Caro lives on a pig farm in a small town with her four other siblings and another on the way. She is curious and determined to understand the mysteries of the world around her. But her devout catholic father can't explain the new world and her mother is too busy for philosophy so she converses to God. One day at school she is horrified to learn that man will soon set foot on the moon. In her eyes it's not possible that God would allow anyone to get so close to Heaven. Her clowning father agrees and, unable to cope with modern-day progress, hits the bottle. Caro is preparing for her first holy communion to become 'a bride of God' but before that she seals a pact with her father to overcome her fear of swimming in exchange, he will not touch a drop of alcohol.
Thirteen-year-old Daniel lives with his older brother and terminally ill father in a village plagued by rural exodus. There, the young people live their lives between rare bus stops, xenophobia, unemployment, illegal dog fights and chemical intoxicants, among other things. Daniel stands between childhood and adolescence, and in the face of the indifference and stagnation of his surroundings, he becomes the victim of inhuman conditions that force him into a painful loneliness.
Martje is the manager of a successful laundry service, but in her personal life she struggles with her self-image after the amputation of one of her breasts. After she is humiliated when Loe, one of her employees, is startled by the discovery of her prosthesis during foreplay, she imprisons him in the laundry plant. As Loe is slowly dying in imprisonment, Martje loses contact with reality and starts imagining having a family with him.
Different couples go to a hotel which has an special offer for staying over at the 31st of december 1999 in to the new millenium. The movie follows the different couples and their reasons to be in the hotel.
A behind the scenes look at the production of Martin Koolhoven's film, Oorlogswinter.
Dokter Vogel is a short surrealist film with computer animations and special effects in which a boy comes round too soon after a tonsillectomy and mistakes the throat specialist for a cacodemon from his narcosis dream.
