Director Martijn de Jong joins producer Elliot to discuss his feature debut Narcosis. Selected as this year’s Dutch Oscar entry, this tender portrayal of familial love & mourning gives our audience a window to Martijn’s approach to filmmaking. With a desire to move people and connect with his audience, together they explore his journey as a director from commercials to his first feature. While discussing cinematic moments that have impacted Martijn, he offers a unique insight into the Dutch film landscape as a whole – is a Dutch resurgence on the horizon?

Our Guest

Martijn is a director at Wefilm. He graduated with honors at the Willem de Kooning Academy in 2004 and worked as a creative for several advertising agencies. He decided to study at the Dutch Film Academy, after which we asked him to join Wefilm. The live twitter film Martijn created won the Grand Prix at the ADCN awards 2013 for the most outstanding campaign that year. At the Film Academy, he made several short films, all subtle and elegant. He won advertising awards such as Spinawards, ADCN Awards, VCP Kodak Award, Esprix, and a Cannes Lion. Martijn specializes in realistic commercials and online films dealing with the small inconveniences in life. Next to his work at Wefilm, Martijn directs and writes fiction films.

Films mentioned

• Narcosis (Martijn de Jong, 2022)
• My Extraordinary Summer with Tess (Steven Wouterlood, 2019)
• Chungking Express (Wong Kar-Wai, 1994)
• Me and You and Everyone We Know (Miranda July, 2005)
• A Thousand Kisses (Willem van de Sande Bakhuyzen, 2006)

Our hosts