Kaap Holland Studios is an independent, Amsterdam-based production studio founded by producer Maarten Swart, that produces films and (high-end) series. Kaap Holland Studios has a solid track record of genre, crossover and mainstream films and high-end series and works with experienced and emerging talents and showrunners who strive to create ambitious, urgent and challenging productions for a wide audience. 

Kaap Holland Studios consists of the production companies and labels Kaap Holland Film, Kaap Holland Series, Dead Duck Productions, Huntu Productions, Marine Biologie, Red Herring, Saturnino & Kongo Productions, Stoked and Wonderboys Media and works closely together with renowned production companies Big Blue, Circe Films and Eleven Film. Our work includes the (co)productions: Jackie (Antoinette Beumer, with Holly Hunter, TIFF 2012), Het Diner (Menno Meyes, TIFF 2013), Dunkirk (Christopher Nolan, including 3 Academy Awards wins and 8 nominations 2018), Le Fidêle (Michaël Roskam, TIFF 2017, Venice 2017), The Goldfinch (John Crowley, TIFF 2019), Burning Days (Emin Alper, Cannes – Un Certain Regard 2022), Krazy House (Steffen & Flip, Sundance 2024, with Nick Frost, Alicia Silverstone and Kevin Connolly), Baby (Marcelo Caetano, Cannes - Semaine de la Critique 2024), A Beautiful Imperfection (Michiel van Erp, with Dar Zuzovsky and Jonah Hauer-King) and Wander to Wonder (Nina Gantz, Academy Award Nomination 2025, BAFTA Winner 2025).

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CURRENT PROJECTS

Downtown

Director: Michiel van Erp. Screenwriter: Frank Houtappels. Cast: Daniel Cornelissen, Sebastián Mrkvicka, Thor Braun, Yorick van Wageningen, Hans Kesting, Roeland Fernhout. Country: NL. Status: in post-production. In collaboration with: De Familie. In co-production with: Eyeworks Film & TV, BNN VARA. Sales Agent: M-Appeal.

Downtown follows the story of Bas (20), Lennart (23), and Ronnie (26), three twentysomething gay men who find themselves at the center of Amsterdam’s nightlife in the 1980s. It is a time where anything seems possible, especially if you’re young. But amidst this newfound freedom, the emergence of a deadly disease looms. The AIDS epidemic slowly but surely makes its entrance into the queer community, forever changing the lives and friendship of these three men. Then, 32 years later, the Covid pandemic bears striking similarities to those anxious days, stirring up emotions Bas, Lennart, and Ronnie (now 52, 55, and 58) had buried deeply within themselves. Reunited for the first time after all these years, they are confronted with the past, their choices, and each other.

Downtown tells the story of a generation of men, who saw their youthful ideals go up in smoke, and the scars they still carry within them. Inspired by the personal experiences of the writer and the director, who were deeply involved in the vibrant club scene and experienced the devastating consequences of AIDS firsthand, the film is a celebration of life and a love letter to a generation that laid the groundwork for the sexual freedom the queer community knows today.

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Max Havelaar

Director: Shariff Korver. Screenwriter: Bo Tarenskeen, Shariff Korver. Country: NL, Indonesia. Status: in development. 

Max Havelaar, a failing civil servant addicted to gambling and women, gets one last chance to redeem himself as the colonial administrator of a poor backwater province in 1860’s Indonesia. When he uncovers that the colonial government conspires with corrupt local rulers against the poor farmers, Max finds his fighting spirit and his creative voice as he puts his own and his family’s fate on the line to become an advocate for the growing Indonesian resistance.

Like the most famous Dutch novel of the same name, Max Havelaar is a scathing criticism of colonial rule and a compelling whistleblower thriller, but also a hilarious farce about white saviour myths and bumbling colonial administrators.

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