Our new Young Directors Award honours fresh filmmaking talent

What’s new on the horizon, you ask? Our Young Directors Award! Starting from the upcoming Dutch Creativity Awards, we’ll be awarding the hottest, freshest and best directing talent out there.

As the newest addition to our awards programme, the Young Directors Award, a collaboration between ADCN and Videoland, aims to stimulate and champion new talent, giving emerging directors the stage to be celebrated and become more visible.

According to Bas Welling (Wefilm), one of the initiators of the award:

‘The Netherlands lacked a platform for young filmmakers who make exceptional commissioned work. Through the stage of this award, it could be their next step towards creating something with even more impact. In this time when we have abundant content, film craft can really make a difference. Honouring the very best film talent in the Netherlands is part of our industry’s responsibility to go a step further.’

Alongside Bas, Antoinette Beumer (Head of Fiction and Documentary Development, RTL/Videoland), and Jelani Isaacs (Board Member, ADCN & Chief Executive Producer, New Amsterdam Film Company) were also behind the initiation of our newest category.

Jelani Isaacs:

'It was such a logical step to build a stage for the next generation of directors. Our aim is to open up possibilities for new filmmakers, looking at our profession from their eyes. We’re on the hunt for the next Femke Huurdeman, Safi Graauw or Paul Geuzenbroek, and are hoping to discover a diverse group of up-and-coming talent.’

Antoinette Beumer:

‘Just like the recently started Videoland Academy, the Young Directors Award has the common goal of bringing emerging film talent to the forefront. It therefore makes perfect sense that Videoland supports this new award and by doing so, celebrates the creative work of these filmmakers.'

Next to the Young Directors Award, ADCN and Videoland aim to develop other initiatives to fuel directing talent. One of these is Film Creativity Labs: an educational programme in which young filmmakers receive feedback and coaching from ADCN’s judges of the Film Advertising and Film Craft and other fellow filmmakers. Film Creativity Labs will kick off with a session at MediaMonks in Amsterdam later this year. Diederick Koopal (Hazazah), Antoinette Beumer and other industry professionals will guide and inspire the participants. By applying to the Young Directors Award, you’ll be invited to join the first of these sessions!

We encourage all talented directors with a maximum of three years experience to apply for the Young Directors Award. Simply submit a piece of commissioned work from 2019 before 29 March 2020 through our online application form. A jury comprised of François Rousselet, director at DIVISION and Gijs Determeijer, partner at HALAL, will judge the entries and award the winner with an iconic Lamp.

Entry costs for this award are €25. All applicants that meet the above criteria will receive a free ADCN membership for the duration of one year, a free ticket for the Award Show and an invite for the first session of Film Creativity Labs.