The best Gijs Scholten van Aschat’s drama movies

A rock star general bent on winning the “impossible” war in Afghanistan takes us inside the complex machinery of modern war. Inspired by the true story of General Stanley McChrystal.

United States, 1926: Dutch 24-year-old Willy Wolters has immigrated to the American continent with her parents as a child. She dreams of becoming a conductor, but this is an ambition that no one takes seriously. Unbeknownst to her, she'll also become Antonia Brico.

Gino is a drifter, down-at-heel and magnetically handsome. At a road side restaurant he encounters husband and wife, Giuseppe and Giovanna. Irresistibly attracted to each other, Gino and Giovanna begin a fiery affair and plot to murder her husband. But, in this chilling tale of passion and destruction, the crime only serves to tear them apart.

1888: a luthier, Vedder, has to step aside when his home, opposite the recently completed Central Station in Amsterdam, must yield for the planned Victoria Hotel. His cousin Anijs, pharmacist in the Northern provinces of the Netherlands, has gotten into a fix after illegal medical practices, and is looking for a way out. For himself and his wife Martha, but also for a colony of poor peat cutters whom he promises a future in the United States. Committed - or is it pride? - the two of them think up a scheme from which they all will fully benefit. With tragic consequences.

Albert has always looked up to his aunt Tiny: this beautiful woman from Brabant can make any man’s heart skip a beat. Through Albert’s eyes Tiny’s life seems quite exciting. But why is she so furious at everyone and everything? It takes him half a lifetime to discover that his beloved aunt’s existence is a lot more complex than he had ever thought.

Jörgen's world is crumbling. Forced into early retirement and harassed by his ex-wife, the only part of his life which makes sense - his beloved daughter Tirza - is shattered when she disappears on holiday in Namibia. After weeks of terrifying uncertainty, Jörgen goes searching for her, but the heat, his drinking and bad memories combine to unhinge him. His only ally is a child prostitute called Kaisa. Together they journey into the wilderness on Tirza's trail to discover her fate.

Doodslag (Dutch for "Manslaughter") is the story of Max, a paramedic who is repeatedly hindered in performing his duties by loutish behaviour. As his ambulance hurries towards a complicated childbirth, some youths prevent Max from reaching the distressed woman in labour. Spurred on by the emergency and the incendiary words of a TV pundit, he reaches a boiling point and forcefully hits one of the men obstructing his ambulance. Max's strike has far-reaching, unintended consequences.

Melissa is a 15-year-old girl who loves to dance. Her parents think she is taking classes in classical ballet, but once at the dance school she devotes herself to the hip-hop dance classes. Melissa is good friends with Jordi and he is very happy for Melissa when she is asked to dance in the music video of the famous rapper Brainpower. But because of bad influences, her life becomes a nightmare. Until her real friends decide to get her out of there.

Handsome Dutchman Stijn is the star of an advertising agency with his buddy Frenk and a hot womanizer. The boys start their own agency and Stijn marries colleague Carmen, who accepts his incurable greed for truly meaningless one-night-stands. Even fatherhood and a move to the boring country go well, until Carmen gets breast cancer. Now their lives are turned upside-down, maybe wrecked

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.

Armin is in crisis. One fateful day he discovers he is infertile and has been throughout his life. From this he discovers his first wife, Monika, was unfaithful before she died. How else could she have the child that Armin always thought was his? His paranoia drives him to find the truth.

Bookkeeper Jacob newest client is the talented and flamboyant actress Anne. They first meet each other on her houseboat, the morning after the premiere of Anne's new theatrical play. Anne has made a mess of her personal finances and she has a lot of debt. So much so that she may even have to sell her houseboat. Jacob does what he can to help her.

Acquitted of a fatal on-duty incident but tormented by its harrowing personal repercussions, a police officer and impending father struggles to piece his uprooted life back together while sent on leave to a holiday resort in Greece.

Four old college friends in their forties come together in a time of trouble and despair. Old joy relives, but the harsh reality of their problems can't satisfy them and eventually endangers their friendships.

On the eve of her forty-fifth birthday Doris Doorenbos (Tjitske Reidinga) ends up like a divorced woman with two children at a dead end.

On the very eve of shooting his debut film, a harried young director struggles to balance fiction and reality as he spends one fever dream of a night searching for the inspiration that eludes him.

Hiernamaals tells the story of Sam, a hyperintelligent and hardworking 14-year-old girl who leads a happy life with her father and her two brothers in the south of the Netherlands. She is a good student, very strict with herself and she is always on time. She also takes care of her two younger brothers; since her mother Vera died, she’s felt responsible for the family and now she takes care of the household with her father. One morning — rushing to school to help her math teacher print exams — she is struck by a large truck and she dies. In the hereafter she finds her mother waiting for her. It's a strange feeling of both happiness and sadness. She discovers that there is a way back to life, but will she succeed in taking her mother with her?

The dark, odd humor of Frits, a somewhat lost young man in his early 20s, who still lives at home and can't seem to make the leap to full adulthood is appealing, with a undertone of sadness. And the film shares his vaguely surreal, blackly comedic outlook. His mantra; "Things are bad. Otherwise I'm fine."