Sam Koopman

video , schrijven , publieke ruimte , internationaal , fotografie , film , Experimenteel , Documentair , DIY , Digitaal , Community , Autobiografisch , Audiovisueel

Dutch-Canadian artist & filmmaker, studied and worked as a cinematographer in Canada and France before receiving his MFA from the Piet Zwart Institute. Playing with conventions of documentary and fiction, he works with local encounters as a launching point. Through analysing the role of his lens while exploring relationships with people and place, his films search for the intersection of comedy and calamity. His short film Dear Moritz (2023) won awards at Eyefilmmuseum Research Labs and the Rotterdams Open Doek Film Festival. At IFFR 2024 he served as a guest curator for the RTM programme and is active with community film programming initiatives. Work(ing Together) in Process is selected for IFFR 2025.

Work(ing Together) in Process - DCP, 45min.
Work(ing Together) in Process - DCP, 45min. (2025) - On a quest to obtain some misdelivered camera batteries, Sam Koopman finds himself in a Rotterdam-based sex shop. Here he meets Marty who works there, and this chance encounter turns into a cinematic project between the two. When Sam turns the camera towards this new stranger, the two end up embarking on a year-long journey to create a film together. Their shared process of self-discovery turns this playful desktop film into a profound meditation on the nature of non-fiction film. – Hugo Emmerzael (IFFR)
Dear Moritz - single channel video & audio, burlap & satin. installation (2024)
Dear Moritz - single channel video & audio, burlap & satin. installation (2024) - Installed at Brutus as a physical space connected to the koopvaardij (merchants warehouse) of the VOC where the statue of Piet Hein, who serves as a silent and stoic character in the film. Viewers are invited to sit on the overflow of blue royalty seeping from the burlap sacks used to transfer goods.
Dear Moritz - DCP, 7min (2023)
Dear Moritz - DCP, 7min (2023) - A hybrid short film essay that invites you to observe and reflect along a chance encounter between an artist, police and two friends in public space. A spontaneous moment attached to a loaded location, reflecting upon power, privilege, colonial pasts and present realities.
Keep It in the Streets - DCP, 1h11m (2019)
Keep It in the Streets - DCP, 1h11m (2019) - A nameless group of street photographers chronicle what happens when they start to interact with, and wake up to the city they live in.

Green Screen Collective x Stads Park West: Solstice in Nettle Green

Datum:
Locatie: Essenburg Park
In samenwerking met: Groene Connectie, Stads Park West, Huize Middeland

Solstice in a silent revelry of the year’s longest day, immersed in the hidden green universe of Essenburgpark under the constellation of the nettle. It brings us together in celebration - around the table sharing food, exploring the park’s hidden pathways through storytelling soundwalk, or watching Katerina Jazbec's film 'Speaking in Nettle Hairs' shot in the very park.

I created the audio soundwalk for the program focused on the mythology of midsummer and stinging nettle lore.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DZauUtYjCak/?img_index=1

Green Screen Collective x KIOSK - Return to Neverland: Night of Bread

Datum:
Locatie: KIOSK - Pieter de Raadtstraat 35A
In samenwerking met: KIOSK Rotterdam

Inspired by and in honour of the Neverland Cinema who to had their home in the space where KIOSK now resides, we programmed an evening of film, literature & food around the theme of bread. Together we shared loaves, slices, bites, spreads and dips along a selection of short films and a live reading I gave.

https://kioskrotterdam.com/page/events

Het Rotterdamse Noodpakket - Documentaire

Datum:
Locatie: Museum Rotterdam ’40 – ’45 NU Coolhaven 375 3015 GC
In samenwerking met: Museum Rotterdam

Een pandemie, overstromingen, cyberaanvallen of zelfs oorlog in Europa: noodsituaties lijken dichterbij dan ooit. De gemeente Rotterdam adviseert inwoners een noodpakket samen te stellen. Maar wat hoort daar eigenlijk in? Waar berg je het op? Kunnen we samen oplossingen bedenken die voor alle Rotterdammers werken?

https://museumrotterdam.nl/tentoonstellingen/het-rotterdamse-noodpakket/

CineMachine Festival

Datum:
Locatie: Werkwarenhuis, Tramkade 22-24 5211 VB
In samenwerking met: Pop up Cinema, Van Osch Filmproducties, St Joost Breda, Werkwarenhuis

Stap binnen in de wereld van film en ontdek een festival vol inspirerende verhalen, visuele experimenten en grensverleggende kunst. CineMachine brengt makers en publiek samen in een dynamisch programma vol cinema in al zijn vormen. Laat je verrassen door een breed scala aan films, van jong talent tot ervaren regisseurs. Bekijk onder andere Anima van Josefien van Kooten en Anna Witte, Work(ing Together) in Process van Sam Koopman, Buurman Abdi van Douwe

https://popupcinema.nu/nl-nl/events/cinemachine-2025

RTM Talk: Expanding Frames – Filmmaking as Research

Datum:
Locatie: LantarenVenster
In samenwerking met: International Film Festival Rotterdam, Zalán Szakács & Ine Lamars

Het is niet ongebruikelijk dat fotografen zich buiten het kader van het stilstaande beeld begeven en het terrein van het bewegende beeld verkennen. Dit is het geval voor beeldend kunstenaars en filmmakers Ine Lamers (The Radiant Screen, 2025) en Sam Koopman (Work(ing Together) in Process, 2025). Beide makers zoeken de grenzen op van documentaire en fictie en gebruiken de camera als onderzoeksinstrument om de relaties tussen mensen en landschappen te verkennen. Waar Lamers kiest voor een observer

https://iffr.com/nl/iffr/2025/events/rtm-talk-expanding-frames-filmmaking-as-research

Work(ing Together) in Process - IFFR premiere & vertoning

Datum:
Locatie: LantarenVenster, Cinerama, Kino, Pathé & Cinema Islemunda
In samenwerking met: International Film Festival Rotterdam
https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2025/films/working-together-in-process

Wild Summer of Art

Datum:
Locatie: Keileweg 10b
In samenwerking met: Brutus

Brutus Space presents the 2nd edition of a Wild Summer of Art featuring work by 50 Rotterdam-based contemporary artists and a dynamic public program of events, screenings and performances. This year's edition is guest-curated by Amira Gad in collaboration with Sophie de Vos. The participating artists were selected from a long-list of creatives nominated by a select group of scouts who are well-versed with Rotterdam's art scene.

https://brutus.nl/en/programme/on+view/wild+summer+of+art+2024/

CURRENTLY, CURRENTLY, CURRENTLY

Datum:
Locatie: V2_ & UBIK
In samenwerking met: Piet Zwart Institute, WORM, V2_

Master students of the Lens-Based Media program at the Piet Zwart Institute invite you to their graduation show at V2 and WORM, Rotterdam. We are here and we need to tell you something. CURRENTLY, CURRENTLY, CURRENTLY brings attention to urgent questions through the practice of moving image. Along 14 distinct works, each their own current, we explore personal, political and ecological concerns in the world we live in.
Currently, it has to do with all of us.

https://v2.nl/events/currently-currently-currently-pzi-graduation-show#

Flying Ideas

Datum:
Locatie: WORM
In samenwerking met: Yalou Groeneweg, Luni Jancoraite, Aitana López Rodrigo, Claudio Tola, Te Petchara and Arabella Turner

Flying Ideas is a collective space for works-in-progress. We recognise that the processes of development in between finished works are where we spend most of our time. Yet, this time is often hidden, or if anything is whispered about; it is rarely brought to the forefront, instead attention is focused on the 'final' outcome.

https://worm.org/production/flying-ideas/

(A) Questionnaire - Eye Research Labs

Datum:
Locatie: Eye Film Museum, IJpromenade 1, Amsterdam
In samenwerking met: Piet Zwart Institute, Eye Film Museum

Are we having a conversation? Who or what is God to you? Where can we find healing? Isn’t it always the same quest? The same matter of mankind, of image-making, of image-making mankind? How are you angry? Is there anywhere to hide? And, will we unmake the world? What is the social impact of artificial intelligence on lens-based image culture?

https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/piet-zwart-institute-a-questionnaire/916277
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