Koolhoven Presents S1:E2

Venus

After a massive collective suicide, no man walks the earth anymore; for Joyce, this is truly a disaster. To keep the memory of her beloved Job alive, she is a frequent visitor of Nostalgyl, a company that uses mysterious therapy to take her back to better times. Until, after yet another session, she is accused of being addicted to masculinity. Joyce has no intention of giving up her husband, and in desperation, she follows a Nostalgyl employee to "the source." Here, she can even bring Job back to life—but at what cost? And is Joyce willing to pay that price?

Binary

Gloomy and gory horror, unsuitable for sensitive souls? For some film buffs, it’s the crème de la crème of the salmon mutated into Jaws. *Binary* centers on Nisha, a Pakistani trans woman who has come to the Netherlands to complete her transition. She earns her living through erotic performances in shadowy venues, all while juggling a lot on her plate: financially supporting her parents, a brother who constantly calls out of concern for her safety, and the struggle to make ends meet. And then there’s the inner demon that relentlessly haunts her. Things come to a head at a bachelorette party in an abandoned clubhouse, where it turns out that demons—besides being terrifying—can be disturbingly real.

Trauma Porn Club

Nova believes that art should "f***ing hurt," but the aspiring artist in this violent thriller has never experienced anything remotely close to trauma. At the gallery where she works, she’s little more than a background character, and the creatives in her circle think her emotions aren’t nearly painful enough for a career in their world. Then she discovers *Sano*, an organization that promises life-changing experiences: from a man masturbating in public to Fight Club-like scenarios. Because, as they say, "The reward of suffering is success." Is this Nova’s chance to rise above herself?

Memory Dealers

A provocative thought: what if the world has been brainwashed? In this dystopian rebel fantasy, a group of friends, led by BossBitch Teo, is on the run from *The Great Rewind* and aims to implant an alternative memory. The government’s mental cleansing operation is supposed to rid the world of negative emotions like stress and sadness, but it leaves people apathetic. Where’s the joy in that?! In this bizarre, neon-colored trip down memory lane, the band of antiheroes refuses to give up their eat-sleep-rave-repeat routine and develops an antidote: the psychedelic concoction *Joy Juice*. Now all they need is a way to get it into people’s hands.

Witte Wieven

The folkloric horror film Witte Wieven is set in the Middle Ages. Frieda lives in a poor, God-fearing community where men hold all the power. Women are valued only for bearing children, and that’s precisely what Frieda has been unable to do. On the advice of the local priest, she performs a ritual to determine her fertility, but she is then attacked by the village lecher, Gelo. She flees into the Forest of Wandering, a place inhabited by the mist devils, from which no woman has ever returned. When Frieda does make her way back to the village, her faith—and that of her hostile neighbors—is put to the ultimate test.