Zuiderlicht Film is a Dutch film production company, founded in 2011 by Jan van Gorkum. Jan graduated as a filmmaker from the Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU) in 2010, where he studied Audiovisual Media. The mission of Zuiderlicht Film is simple: making unique and eccentric movies. The focus is on making fiction films in a variety of genres and formats.
In 2011, Tussenstop (Rest Stop), a short thriller, was the first production produced by Jan with Zuiderlicht Film. The film premiered at the Netherlands Film Festival 2011 and was also shown at the Leids Film Festival 2011 and the Eindhovens Film Festival 2011. In 2012 Tussenstop won the Courts du Polar Award 2012 at the Courts du Polar Festival in Lyon, France.
In 2013 the dark comedy De Kleinzoon (The Grandson) followed. The film was selected for Shortcutz Amsterdam 2014 and the Eindhovens Film Festival 2014, where the film was nominated for Best Screenplay. In 2015 and 2016, De Kleinzoon was selected for more than 20 international festivals and won several awards. The full film can be viewed here.
The dark comedy Spelletjesavond (Game Night), released in 2016, has been selected for a large number of international film festivals, including the Cleveland International Film Festival 2018 and the Palm Springs International ShortFest 2017 in the USA. The film has won the audience award at several festivals: the Eindhovens Film Festival 2016 in the Netherlands, the Independent Days International Filmfest 2017 in Germany and the Paphos International Film Festival 2017 in Cyprus. Selected as Staff Pick on Vimeo.
Shiny New World is the most recent film of Zuiderlicht Film. A quirky horror comedy starring Patrick Stoof and Gijs Scholten van Aschat. The film was produced in collaboration with Make Way Film and associate producer Jan Doense. The film had its world premiere in July 2021 at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN) in South Korea. In August 2021 the film had its North American premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Canada. The European premiere took place in October 2021 at the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia in Spain.