Documentaries — Illuce

Palestinians are Jews

Filmmaker Tal Sarid uncovers the hidden stories of Palestinians whose Jewish ancestry has been silenced by conflict, revealing an exploration of identity, belonging, and the shared roots that bind Palestinians and Jews despite the walls between them.
Director: Tal Sarid
Camera: Thomas Dallal, Geert van Kesteren, Eliyahu Yanai
Sound: Thomas Dallal, Geert van Kesteren
Sound design: Danny Rosendahl
Editor: Luce van de Weg
Grading & deliveries: Joel Sahuleka, FeverFilm
Producer: Wilma Manée, Ellis van Doorn
Comm. editor: Alfred Edelstein; EO de Joodse wereld / 60 min; 2025

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My Brother

A deeply personal documentary about brotherhood, loss and memory. Award-winning film that touched audiences at festivals across Europe.
Director: Koert Davidse
Camera: Ton Peters NSC
Sound: Kees de Groot, Pepijn Aben
Sound design: Wiebe de Boer
Editor: Luce van de Weg
Grading & deliveries: Laurent Fluttert
Music: Berend Dubbe
Producer: Marc Theloosen | seriousFilm
Comm. editor: Michiel Brongers; Award for Best Documentary & Audience Award — Zeeuws Licht / Film by the Sea '25 · Jury Award Best Documentary — Roze Filmdagen '26; KRO-NCRV / 70 min; 2025

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Desolate Ground

Jewish Morocco II

Little was passed down about Jewish life in Morocco; the trauma of immigration and the urgency of assimilation in Israel left memories unspoken. For Dutch Avital and Lev, these untold stories shaped their sense of identity, belonging, and connection to both Morocco and Israel. They return to the places their families once lived—seeking fragments of a Jewish-Moroccan past largely erased.
Director: Marieke Rodenburg
Camera: Maarten Kramer NSC, Marieke Rodenburg
Sound: Wouter Veldhuis
Sound design: Björn Warning
Editor: Luce van de Weg
Grading & deliveries: Maarten Kramer NSC
Producer: Wilma Mannée
Comm. editor: Alfred Edelstein; EO de Joodse wereld / 52 min; 2025

Hilversum's Betrayal

The Dutch Public Broadcasters in '40-'45

During the Second World War, the Dutch radio broadcasting associations tried at all costs, to maintain their position, with far-reaching concessions to the German occupier… At a time of new tensions on the European continent and a more extensive fragmentation in society, it makes one wonder: what is the lesson from '40-'45 for current broadcasters?
Director: Alfred Edelstein
Research: Karin van Coeverden
Camera: Adri Schrover NSC
Sound: Wouter Veldhuis
Sound design: Conno van Wijk
Editor: Luce van de Weg
Grading & deliveries: Jimmy Samin
Producer: Wilma Mannee
Comm. editor: Michaël Koornneef; EO de Joodse wereld / 65 min; 2024

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In Patient Urgency

Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp in 7 Chapters

Reflections of Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp on the meaning and value of his work. As a force of life he never ceases to try and connect people in a world which he hopes to leave behind as a better place than he once found it.
Director: Ellen Blom (scenario & direction)
Research: Karen de Jager
Camera: Jan Pieter Tuinstra
Sound: Jillis Schriel, Bouwe Mulder
Sound design: Rob Dul
Editor: Luce van de Weg
Grading & deliveries: Pepijn Klijs
Producer: Jurre Lam, Bernard Krikke (Dutch Angle.TV)
Comm. editor: Sellie Altunterim (Dutch Angle), Alfred Edelstein (EO); EO de Joodse wereld / 55 min; 2024

Souvenirs of Absence

Jewish Morocco I

Little remains of the long and rich history of 2000 years of Judaism in Morocco. There even almost seems to be a taboo on exploring this shared past.
Director: Marieke Rodenburg (scenario & director)
Camera: Maarten Kramer NSC
Sound: Wouter Veldhuis
Sound design: Björn Warning, Luce van de Weg
Editor: Luce van de Weg
Grading & deliveries: Maarten Kramer NSC
Music: Wouter Veldhuis
Producer: Wilma Mannee
Comm. editor: Alfred Edelstein & Karin van Coeverden; EO de Joodse wereld / 53 min; 2023

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Principal

Henriette Henriquez Pimentel

Against the background of rich archival and found footage, family members and descendants of her staff unfold, how Henriette Pimentel shaped her progressive ideas about education and child care. The role of hygiene, but even more the importance of play and music, is key; a determined pioneer with a boundless heart for children.
Director: Marieke Rodenburg
Camera: Marieke Rodenburg, Maarten Kramer NSC
Sound: Marieke Rodenburg
Sound design: Lars Blakenburg
Editor: Luce van de Weg
Grading & deliveries: Maarten Kramer NSC
Music: Cora Burggraaf, Hans Eijsackers
Producer: Wilma Mannee
Comm. editor: Alfred Edelstein and Karin van Coeverden; EO de Joodse wereld / 50 min; 2022

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Thou Shalt not Kill

Train Hijack De Punt

Documentary about human rights lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld. Relatives impeach the Dutch State for executing unarmed Moluccan hostage takers. Liesbeth Zegveld assists them.
Camera: Maarten Kramer NSC, Ton Peters, Hans Bouma
Sound: Diego van Uden, Kees de Groot
Sound design: Wiebe de Boer
Editor: Luce van de Weg
Grading & deliveries: Laurent Fluttert
Producer: Marc Thelosen | seriousFilm; KRO-NCRV / 72 min; 2021

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The Road to Suncity

Documentary on the unique efforts of Congolese women to reestablish and consolidate peace in their country, empowered by the UN Security Council's Resolution 1325.
Director: TRUE HEROES FILMS (camera & direction)
Editor: Luce van de Weg
Lead expert: Katharina Vögeli; On behalf of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, in cooperation with UN Women / 40 min; 2020

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Whereto What for

A Requiem for the Living

Six people, each with a different faith or conviction, tell how their view on death and what might be after that, influences their lives. Based on their stories, one writer and four contemporary Dutch composers wrote a requiem. This time for the living.
Director: Ellen Blom
Camera: Martijn Cousijn, Marcel Prins, Jelle Odé
Sound: Jillis Schriel, Tjodi van Elk
Sound design: Rob Dul (audiomix)
Editor: Luce van de Weg
Grading & deliveries: Pepijn Klijs
Producer: Marita Ruyter, Julia Emmering | Beeld TV; EO / 1 uur 47 min; 2018

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What's Playing?

In Zundert, a small town in the south of the Netherlands, the Harmony celebrates it's 175th birthday. Local playwright Peter Dictus explores and finds out what harmony is really about, while working with the orchestra and the local theatre on a multimedia performance.
Director: Ellen Blom (scenario & director)
Camera: Martijn Cousijn, Marcel Prins, Jelle Odé
Sound: Jillis Schriel
Editor: Luce van de Weg
Producer: Annemiek van der Hell; Windmill Film / 50 min; 2017

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Afghanistan

Back to the Future

Remarkable films have come to light, shot in southern Afghanistan in the 1950s. The films were shot over a period of seven years in the 1950s by an American, Glenn Foster, and his assistant, Hajji Mehtabuddin. They caught Afghanistan at a remarkable period of change – and are full of surprises.
Director: Monica Whitlock
Presenter: Saeeda Mahmoud
Sound design: Luce van de Weg
Editor: Luce van de Weg
Grading & deliveries: Duco Tellegen
Comm. editor: Mary Wilkinson, Jane Taylor, Meena Baktash; BBC World / 23 min; 2016

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Only Me

They are still performing all over the world: the Platters. And often their big hits like Only You and The Great Pretender sound just like fifty years ago. Remarkable, while none of the members of the successful American original vocal group is alive anymore. Many singers claim their alleged role…
Camera: Martijn Cousijn
Sound: Jillis Schriel
Sound design: Erik Griekspoor
Editor: Luce van de Weg
Grading & deliveries: Pepijn Klijs
Producer: Valérie Schuit | Viewpoint
Editor in chief: Oscar van de Kroon | Jan Willem Husken; NPS / 52 min; 2015

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The Man Who Went Looking for Freedom

Romania under dictator Ceausescu was a country of food shortages and Orwellian surveillance of ordinary people by the secret police. In 1983, TV repairman Ion Bugan made a demonstration against the system. He was jailed immediately. From then, until the day they left for America six years later, his family were followed by secret police wherever they went. Their friends and relatives were also under heavy surveillance. 25 years after they left, the Bugans return to Romania to retrace Ion's steps and to face their relatives, friends and former neighbours.
Director: Monica Whitlock (script & narration)
Camera: Duco Tellegen
Editor: Luce van de Weg
Grading & deliveries: Duco Tellegen
Producer: Duco Tellegen, Monica Whitlock and Cristina Badea
Comm. editor: Mary Wilkinson; BBC World / 50 min; 2014

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The Silent Historian

Historian Loe de Jong was famous as the author of the History of the Netherlands in World War II. After his death the family made a discovery: Loe had personal documents concealed about his twin brother, Sally, who didn't survive the war. Why did he never give these letters to Sally's children, who did survive? The director tries to find answers in the film about her late grandfather.
Camera: Wiro Felix
Sound: Rik Meijer
Sound design: Jeroen Goeijers
Editor: Luce van de Weg
Exec producer: Anja Cloosterman
Producer: Niek Koppen, Jan de Ruiter | Selfmade
Comm. editor: Annemiek van der Zanden; NPS / 50 min; 2011

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Wrong Friends

Burnt Herman, Red Jos, Fat Bob and Amsterdam Jan are like 'blood brothers'. The free men try hard to stay out of trouble, but time and again their beer seems to be more transparent than their affairs. These four friends are part of the 'penose' – the old traditional Amsterdam criminal scene, and have been filmed over the course of 16 years.
Camera: Danny Elsen, Roy Dames
Sound: Duco Tellegen
Sound design: Danny Rosendahl
Editor: Luce van de Weg
Grading & deliveries: Peter Bernaerts
Music: 'Rooie' Jos Winants
Producer: Duco Tellegen | Dovana Films
Comm. editor: Annemiek van der Zanden; Winner Beeld en Geluid Award 2010; NTR Teledoc / 90 min; 2010

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His Lost Land

In 1958, 6 year old Frits Sahertian witnesses a terrifying shooting, six Moluccans are shot by the Dutch police force in the Moluccan Barracks in Westkapelle, a village in the south of the Netherlands. This event will determine the rest of his life.
Camera: Ton Peters
Sound: Diego van Uden
Sound design: Bart Jillesen
Editor: Luce van de Weg
Grading & deliveries: Peter Bernaerts
Producer: seriousFilm / Marc Thelosen; Omroep Zeeland / 53 min; 2009

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The World is Flat

Through Teunis Piersma's Binoculars

People's indifference about our world and it's organisms, is what mostly bothers biologist Theunis Piersma. The documentary portrays the work and motivations of this inspired and impassioned scientist, who was awarded in 2004 with the Prince Bernhard Culture Award for Nature Conservation.
Director: Helmie Stil
Camera: Peter Brugman N.S.C
Sound: Gertjan Miedema
Sound design: Wiebe de Boer (sound design and mix)
Editor: Luce van de Weg
Music: Tomas Postema
Producer: Niek Koppen & Jan de Ruiter | Selfmade Films
Comm. editor: Annemiek van der Zande (NPS); NPS Uur van de Wolf / 50 min; 2007

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Saturdays are for the Dead

South Africa: 46 million inhabitants, of whom over 6 million have AIDS. And infection increases every day. The film documents this tragedy from the point of view of the undertakers who work constantly to cope with the hundreds of funerals held every week in Soweto's monumental Avalon Cemetery.
Director: Lies Niezen, Lee Ann Cotton
Camera: Peter Brugman
Sound: Musa Radebe
Sound design: Hugo Dijkstal
Editor: Luce van de Weg
Grading & deliveries: Laurent Fluttert
Producer: Niek Koppen, Jan de Ruiter | Selfmade Films
Comm. editor: Frank Wiering (VPRO); VPRO Tegenlicht / 50 min; 2006

Bye All!

"Comes the time for young and old, when life frightens you more than death." With this self-invented title wisdom in his farewell-letter, 92-year-old Marinus Deurloo said goodbye to his loved ones. He had always said it, but no one thought he was serious. On January 14, 2000, he put his words into action and hanged himself in the shed behind his house, leaving his family behind with nothing but questions.
Director: Jaap van Hoewijk
Camera: Peter Brugman
Sound: Tom d'Angremon, Gertjan Miedema
Sound design: Hugo Dijkstal
Editor: Luce van de Weg
Grading & deliveries: Laurent Fluttert
Comm. editor: Bert Janssen (HUMAN); HUMAN / 50 min; 2002

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James Avati

A Life in Paperbacks

Documentary about James Avati, who had a career as a pre-eminent paperback cover artist in an illustrious 40-year career that began during the paperback revolution of the 1950s. His work helped popularise the literature of Erskine Caldwell, James T. Farrell, William Faulkner, Alberto Moravia, Ayn Rand, Louis Brom and many others. Avati's genius lay in evoking emotion — painting tension, humor, avarice, compassion, suggestiveness, yearning, mischief and a score of other feelings into the faces and postures of characters not more than two inches high.
Director: Koert Davidse
Camera: Ton Peters
Sound: Gusta van Eijk
Sound design: Bart Jillesen (sound design and mix)
Editor: Luce van de Weg
Grading & deliveries: Laurent Fluttert
Producer: VPRO; VPRO DOC / 50 min; 2000

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