During the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2002, Leo Hannewijk (festival director Film by the Sea) approached filmmaker and producer Digna Sinke with the idea of asking several film makers to make short films based on poems about the province of Zeeland. It would offer an opportunity to investigate the limits of the medium film and, just like poetry, not to focus on the story but to tackle universal and grander themes through mood and form. In the end, eight short films were realized, by eight different filmmakers. The films are connected by intermezzi, aerial shots of the Zeeland coasts. Poems of the Sea is a stirring and surprising portrayal of Zeeland. Filled with desires and passion.

A group of friends in their early twenties re-consider their boring lives in a sleepy fishing village in the Netherlands.

A group of friends in their early twenties re-consider their boring lives in a sleepy fishing village in the Netherlands.

A political comedy about an illegal Moroccan who makes it to President of the Netherlands. As we follow his unlikely rise and self-sought fall, Joes learns that it's easy to win the support of the people, but to rule them is a whole other story.

A career woman's finds her biological clock ticking heavily, making her jump to impulsive and extreme actions.

The witness walks through the corridors of a courthouse, a floating camera following her. In a pale flashback, she is sternly interrogated by two policemen. In her flashbacks during the examination, we see the events, which seem realistic, but repeatedly turn out to be as changeable and unreliable as the human memory. At a great pace, the three narrative threads take turns, while the witness grows more and more anxious.

A documentary about the Dutch band Racoon and their search for a perfect song.

J. Kessels is the story of the bizarre road trip taken by a French literary pulp writer with his favourite character J. Kessels. The journey takes them from Tilburg to the Hamburg Reeperbahn in Kessels' old American 'Kamikaze' clunker as they seek out cheating dealer. When they get there they find a corpse in the trunk of the Kamikaze: easy to find, but how do you get rid of it?

The Hope Affair is the story of the fascinating affair between an impassioned woman in the midst of an attack on a conservative male bastion and an éminence grise from that same men’s world. An affair that pitches head against heart. An affair that completely spins out of control. And that can be quite funny.

The quirky Dutch-Jamaican Hadiah Tromp (21) is the daughter of Navy officer Tromp, who believes his daughter is a perfect fit for the Navy. But Hadiah doesn't like her Navy training. She prefers to stay at home and listen to her collection of old Ska records. When her boyfriend cheats on her, she decides to finish her Navy training. But Hadiah has difficulties feeling at home in the disciplined and closed environment of the naval frigate and she has constant collusions with the handsome but stern Sergeant Major Paul Borremans. Can the impulsive Hadiah stand tall in the Navy world full of rules? Or is she forced to leave the ship early?