Spoetnik - Noelloozen

Short Film, 2015, 10 min, Netherlands

Seventeen-year-old Sam crashes his moped near the Dutch-Belgian border and ends up stranded in a kind of no-man’s-land. He’s taken in by Gilles, who runs an old-fashioned food truck and is at risk of losing his license. Meanwhile, Sam finds himself falling for Zola, a girl who works at the brothel across the street.

Director: Noël Loozen
Screenplay: Noël Loozen
Producer: Halal (Gijs Kerbosch, Roel Oude Nijhuis, Gijs Determeijer)
Line Producer: Bo Polak
Cinematography: Tim Kerbosch
Sound: Lennert Hunfeld
Editor: Mieneke Kramer
Music: Sjam Sjamsoedin
Production Design: Sanne Schat
Costume Design: Minke Lunter
Color: Joppo in de Grot
Title Design: Sander Brouwer

Cast:
Jiri Loozen as Sam
Romy Gevers as Zola
Michel van Dousselaere as Gilles
Michiel Kerbosch as Ambtenaar
Marcel Zwoferink as Pooier

Awards:
NTR Go Short Award for Best Fiction, Go Short (NL, 2016); Young Jury Award, Concorto Film Festival (Italy, 2016); Grand Jury Prize, Quebec City Film Festival (Canada, 2016); Audience Award, Festival du Premier Court-Métrage (France, 2016); Prix de France Télévision, Court Métrange (France, 2016); Young Jury & Professional Jury Best Short Film for Youth, Kinodiseea International Children’s Film Festival (Romania, 2016); Special Mention, Cinema in Sneakers Film Festival (Poland, 2016)

Festivals (selection):
Nederlands Film Festival (Gouden Kalf Competition), Berlinale (Generation 14Plus), Edinburgh International Film Festival, Palm Springs International ShortFest, Busan International Short Film Festival, Huesca International Film Festival, Guanajuato International Film Festival, REGARD Saguenay International Short Film Festival, Sehsüchte International Film Festival, Milwaukee Film Festival, Vilnius International Film Festival, Brest European Short Film Festival, ZubrOFFka International Short Film Festival, and 25+ more festivals across Europe, North America, and beyond between 2015 and 2019

I was trained as a photographer at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie before completing an MA in Film at the Netherlands Film Academy, and the two disciplines have stayed intertwined ever since. I move between fiction, television, installations and commercials, based in Amsterdam.

Short films SPOETNIK (2015) and BOTANICA (2018) opened things up early on, with SPOETNIK selected for Generation 14plus at the Berlinale. For television I created MOONRIDERS, a children’s series about art nominated twice for a Cinekid Award, and my installations OBSTACLE COURSE 2.0 (2018) and DE DIJK (2025) have shown in public space, including at Schiphol Airport.

This year my feature debut TOUTES DIRECTIONS, produced by 100% Scripted, closes the Nederlands Film Festival and opens in Dutch cinemas on 1 October through Paradiso Filmed Entertainment. I’m also shooting the youth series METROPIA forthe VPRO with NL Film in 2027, and developing my second feature, THE ISLAND OF NOSE (Tom Tippelaar in the Netherlands), with Studio Ruba and screenwriter Saar Ponsioen.

Commercially, I work in the Netherlands and abroad, represented by 100% (NL), Simon und Paul (DE), Kaiserschnitt Film (AT) and Sanctuary (US). For fiction, I’m represented by Connie at Solidbase Management (NL).