In 1987  JOHN APPEL graduated at the Nederlandse Film and Televisie Academy with his documentary Radio Daniëlle, a portrait of a local pirate radio station. This film, awarded Best Student Film, shows Appel’s interest in ‘daily life drama’.
In 1993 he made his first documentary for cinema Johnny Meijer – Body and Soul, about the last and lonely days of the Amsterdam accordion virtuoso. This film expresses Appel’s tendency to envelop ‘Amsterdam blues’.
His film André Hazes – She believes in me, awarded with the Joris Ivens Award for Best Feature Length Documentary (IDFA ’99), is the greatest documentary hit in Dutch cinema over the last 60 years.
In 2003 he made his film The last victory, about the famous horse race in Siena, the Palio. This film won two Golden Kalves at the Dutch Film Festival and many international awards. The film was nominated Best European Documentary at the European Film Awards 2004.
In 2009 he made his personal film The Player, about his father’s addiction to gambling. This film was awarded with the IDFA Award ’09 for Best Dutch Documentary and the Filmfund Stimulus Award 2010 for the most successful documentary of the year. 
His latest film Wrong time, wrong place (2012) is a film about chance and fate, based on the tragic events in Norway of 22 July 2011. This film was the Opening film of IDFA 2012 and won several international awards.
In the Middle-East he mentored young filmmakers in the Greenhouse Development Program. Some great films started from this program, including Oscar-nominated 5 Broken Cameras.

In our Official Selection:

AMUSE

Jonne Covers & Ivo van Aart | Experimental | 06:30
A large restaurant, full of people who are having a good time. They’re chatting and paying attention to each other. At least, that’s what it seems…

WE LOVE

Dieuwke De Mooij | Fiction | 08:06 * PREMIERE *
A contemporary married couple gets stuck in an elevator where no one comes to their aid. A metaphor for how stuck they are in their relationship. A nonlinear sensory experience that takes you on an emotional journey as they are trying to escape.