words by NIA TOPALOVA
As the holiday season approaches, it’s time to plan some cosy cinema nights! We’ve rounded up our must-watch movie releases in the Netherlands this November and December, the ones you won’t want to miss before the year comes to a close.
AMARGA NAVIDAD
Pedro Almodóvar's tragicomedy Amarga Navidad will be officially released in Dutch cinemas tomorrow, November 5, 2026. Played by Bárbara Lennie, Elsa tries to cope with the recent death of her mother and severe anxiety by throwing herself into work. During the Christmas holidays in 2004, she travels to the island of Lanzarote with a friend to escape and find the strength to write. Stuck in a creative block and looking for inspiration, Raúl, played by Leonardo Sbaraglia, turns Elsa's life, and the personal struggles of those in his own inner circle (including Mónica, played by Aitana Sánchez-Gijón), into a screenplay titled Amarga Navidad.
HOPE
In the remote Korean village of Hope Harbor, police chief Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min) and officer Sung-ae (Jung Ho-yeon) are dispatched to track down a mysterious creature. In the nearby forest, a motley group of hunters, including Sung-ki (Zo In-sung), decides to hunt the beast themselves, only to quickly find that they have become the prey. Directed by Na Hong-Jin, and featuring Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, Hope is scheduled for an official Dutch cinema release on November 12, 2026.
QUEEN AT SEA
Set to release in November 12, 2026, Queen At Sea follows Amanda, played by Juliette Binoche, and her stepfather Martin, played by Tom Courtenay, as they face painful moral and personal dilemmas surrounding Amanda's mother Leslie, who is suffering from advanced dementia. Queen at Sea is an intimate family drama about the reality of dementia and the painful dilemmas it can create for family members and loved ones. Director Lance Hammer deliberately avoids passing judgment on his characters, confronting the viewer with questions for which there are no easy answers.
FATHERLAND
Cinéart and MUBI will present the award-winning film FATHERLAND by Paweł Pawlikowski in Dutch cinemas from November 19, 2026. The announcement follows the film's successful and critically acclaimed world premiere in the official competition of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, where Pawlikowski was awarded the Best Director prize jointly. FATHERLAND revolves around the relationship between Thomas Mann (Hanns Zischler) and his daughter Erika (Sandra Hüller). In the summer of 1949, at the height of the Cold War, they embark on a road trip through Germany in ruins, from US-dominated Frankfurt to Soviet-occupied Weimar. After sixteen years of exile in the United States, Thomas Mann returns home confronted with a divided homeland and a deep rift within his own family.
SPINOZA
Set in 17th-century Amsterdam (1656), Spinoza follows a young Baruch Spinoza, played by Bart Bijnens, as he clashes with religious and political authorities over his rationalist and radical ideas. Facing plague, fear, and excommunication, he forms an unlikely bond with his neighbour, the struggling painter Rembrandt van Rijn, played by Pierre Bokma, who warns him of the extreme dangers of his defiance. Directed by Rudolf van der Berg, Spinoza will be released on November 19, 2026.
THE HUNGER GAMES: SUNRISE ON THE REAPING
On November 19, 2026, the highly anticipated The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, directed by Francis Lawrence, will take us back to the world of Panem, 24 years before the events of The Hunger Games. On the morning of the reaping for the 50th Hunger Games, the Second Quarter Quell, the young Haymitch Abernathy is selected. The movie follows 16-year-old Haymitch from District 12 into an arena set to host the biggest Games ever. As the battle unfolds, Haymitch risks everything to bring down the Games from within the arena itself.
THE FURTHER MIS-ADVENTURES OF CLIFF BOOTH
The American comedy-drama The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, directed by David Fincher and written by Quentin Tarantino, produced by Peter Mavromates, Ceán Chaffin, and Brad Pitt, is a standalone sequel and spin-off to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), with Pitt and Timothy Olyphant reprising their roles as Cliff Booth and James Stacy. Set in 1977, the story moves away from the sunny, nostalgic 1969 LA fairy tale into a gritty, shadowy era of crime and systemic decay. The film will get an exclusive two-week run in IMAX theaters starting November 25, 2026
PAPER TIGER
Written and directed by James Gray, Paper Tiger, a co-production between the United States, Brazil, and Italy, stars Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, and Miles Teller, following a suburban American family who becomes entangled with the Russian mob. The premiere took place at the main competition of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival on May 16, where it competed for the Palme d’Or. Paper Tiger is set to release in Dutch cinemas on November 26, 2026.
MEET THE PARENTS: FOCKER-IN-LAW
From November 26, 2026, Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro will reunite in Meet the Parents: Focker-In-Law, for a new chapter, together with Ariana Grande. Written and directed by John Hamburg, Meet the Parents: Focker-In-Law is produced by Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro for Tribeca Productions, and by Ben Stiller and John Lesher for Red Hour Films. The movie stars Ben Stiller as Greg, who, decades after surviving his own tense introduction to Pam's father, finds himself in Jack Byrnes' shoes. His adult son, Henry, played by Skyler Gisondo, brings home Olivia, played by Ariana Grande, a fierce life coach and former FBI hostage negotiator.
LE FABULEUX FESTIN D’AMÉLIE POULAIN (RE-RELEASE)
The 25th anniversary re-release of Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain in the Netherlands is officially scheduled for December 3, 2026, with screenings also featuring at select Dutch cinemas, film houses, and festivals. The plot of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's romantic comedy Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain centers on Amélie, a shy and imaginative young waitress living in Paris. Raised by overprotective, emotionally distant parents who mistakenly believe she has a heart defect, Amélie grows up in isolation and retreats into a rich fantasy world.
FJORD
Cristian Mungiu's film Fjord follows a devout Romanian-Norwegian couple whose strict religious upbringing of their children sparks a fierce clash with Noorway’s child welfare system. Mihai Gheorghiu, played by Sebastian Stan, and his Norwegian-born wife Lisbet, played by Renate Reinsve, move from Bucharest to a remote coastal village in Norway with their five children following the death of Mihai's parents. Fjord’s official Dutch cinema release is December 3, 2026.
BEHEMOTH!
Scheduled for its Netherlands cinema release on December 3, 2026, the musical drama Behemoth!, directed and written by Tony Gilroy, follows a former child prodigy and cellist facing a midlife crisis. Alex Serian, played by Pedro Pascal, leaves a Chicago symphony orchestra and flees an intense affair with Carol, played by Olivia Wilde, after a messy fallout. Recording sessions and personal encounters trigger deep, disorienting flashbacks into his past, including his early upbringing as a prodigy, past relationships, and the underlying emotional scars that drove him away from home 25 years prior
THE DEBUT
The Debut, written, co-produced and directed by Jesse Eisenberg stars Julianne Moore as Mona Friedman, a New Jersey housewife who auditions for a part in a fictional musical run by a strong-willed and enigmatic director (Paul Giamatti). Under the spell of the director Jerry, her life begins to unravel as she slowly becomes more and more consumed with playing the part. The film will be screened across Dutch cinemas and independent theaters starting December 10, 2026
VIOLETTE
Jean-Pierre Jeunet's film Violette is set for a cinema release on December 10, 2026. Based on Valérie Perrin’s international bestseller Changer l'eau des fleurs, the story revolves around Violette Toussaint, who works as a compassionate, observant caretaker of a cemetery in a small town in Burgundy. Her peaceful, routine life revolves around tending to the grounds, talking with quirky cemetery employees, and listening to the various visitors who share their personal stories of love, grief, and survival with her.
