On 3 April, the Netherlands Film Fund launched a new annual incentive to reward producers whose films achieve outstanding box-office results. The initiative targets fiction, animated and non-fiction features that premiered in the previous calendar year and racked up a minimum of 150,000 paid admissions in Dutch cinemas. Eligible titles must also rank among the five most-visited majority Dutch productions of the year.

For the 2025 edition, the incentive will benefit the producers of Johan Nijenhuis’ Loving Bali (a comedy staged by Johan Nijenhuis & Co), Jelle de Jonge’s Memory Lane (a dramedy produced by Hazazah Pictures with Belgian partners), Sisterhood (another dramedy by de Jonge, a Tom de Mol Productions presentation), Aram van de Rest’s family flick Juf Braaksel en de Geniale Ontsnapping (based on Carry Slee’s book of the same name and produced by AM Pictures), and Joost van den Bosch and Erik Verkerk’s animated children’s pic Tummy Tom 2 – A New Friend for Tummy Tom Dik (a Dutch-Belgian co-production led by Phanta Film). The five titles were selected based on their box-office performance as of 31 March 2025.

Each project is now eligible for an extra contribution of up to €300,000. The Netherlands Film Fund aims to use this additional support to boost the production value and ambition of producers’ future projects, while also enhancing their ability to attract private investment.

On the same day, the body launched a special impulse contribution. Creators who have achieved exceptional artistic or commercial success with a previously released production can now be rewarded for their proven success and gain greater financial flexibility to freely develop their next project.

“We can be proud of the success that Dutch filmmakers are achieving, both at home and abroad. As a fund, we want to give space to those who have delivered exceptional work so that they can launch their next project with full creative freedom. This contribution is intended as an extra boost to continue growing and to keep producing high-quality, appealing films,” said managing director Sandra den Hamer.

In the fiction feature, feature animation and documentary categories, separate contributions of €20,000 are available per person for the director, screenwriter and producer to support the free development of a future project. For the short film, and research and experimentation categories (including immersive projects), €10,000 bursaries are available for each role. The grants can be used at the discretion of the director, writer and producer – either collaboratively or individually – to work freely on a new effort or invest in their own professional development.