Maarten van der Ven & Layla Meijman
MACA | Ms. Van Riemsdijkweg 61 | 1033 RC Amsterdam
info@studioruba.com
Company Website

Studio Ruba is an Amsterdam based boutique production company founded in 2019 by producers Layla Meijman and Maarten van der Ven. With a deep faith in the power of collaboration, they focus on developing and producing cinematic cutting-edge stories with a select group of filmmakers. Their goal is to move, excite and broaden audiences' perspectives with innovative stories. 

After producing a series of international successful and award-winning short and mid-length films, Studio Ruba’s first feature film FEMI (Dwight Fagbamila, 2022) premiered at the Netherlands Film Festival in 2022 and was nominated for a Dutch Academy Award for best actor. Internationally, the film had its world premiere at Warsaw IFF. In 2023, their coming-of-age road film KIDDO by Zara Dwinger had its world premiere at the 73rd edition of the Berlinale, was nominated six times at the Dutch Academy Awards including for Best Film, and won two awards (Best Sound Design, Best Montage). Besides the Netherlands, KIDDO had a theatrical release in Belgium and France and traveled to 50+ festivals, amongst which Cannes Écrans Junior, Chicago Children’s FF and Leeds IFF, picking up a number of prizes on the way.

Currently the mosaic drama feature IDYLLIC by Aaron Rookus is in the final stages of post-production. The film is a co-production with Flanders (Polar Bear) and Estonia (Allfilm). IDYLLIC was developed within EAVE and selected as a work in progress for CineMart Darkroom and First Cut Lab 2024. In addition, their first minority co-production TO A LAND UNKNOWN by Mahdi Fleifel will have its world premiere at Cannes 2024 in the Quinzaine Des Cineastes. The film is a co-production between UK’s Inside Out Films and Nakba FilmWorks, for France and Germany Salaud Morisset, for Greece Homemade Films and for The Netherlands Studio Ruba.

This fall, shooting will start for writer/director Amira Duynhouwer’s first feature SUGAR. SUGAR was part of the Creative Europe Media slate Studio Ruba was awarded in 2023. Other projects they are currently developing are, a.o.; Zara Dwinger’s new feature WHAT’S WRONG WITH SYLVESTER, which was selected for the talent development program TalentScope, supported by a.o. Torino Filmlab and Ace Producers, DAUGHTER by acclaimed director Robert-Jan Westdijk and the elevated horror SMOOK by Dwight Fagbamila. SMOOK will be presented at Frontières film market as part of Fantasia Festival 2024 in Montreal.

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CURRENT PROJECTS

‘Sugar’ is a film about the vicious cycle of violence behind closed doors. We meet Chyna in the braid salon where she works with her two sisters. When her boyfriend Raoul becomes increasingly aggressive, she decides to pack up their baby Sugar and leave. But he doesn’t let her go easily. We follow Chyna as she breaks free from old patterns, violence and everything she’s ever known. A compelling story about a young woman who becomes entangled in a complex and cruel relationship, where there is no way out. A colorful exploration of intergenerational patterns, the strength of sisterhood, shared culture and community.

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In this life affirming mosaic drama we follow Victor who is finally coming out of the closet only to realize that he is too old for the gay dating market, opera diva Annika who must reevaluate her life after receiving a terminal diagnosis, grandmother Joke who just wants to die as well as 10-year-old Timo who is racing against time checking off his bucket list believing he only has one week left to live. All different people, searching for the same near impossible thing, the perfect fulfillment of life.

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‘To a Land Unknown’ is a film based on a testimony shared with writer/director Mahdi Fleifel a few years ago. It is the story of how as a human being on the run, and without rights, one is forced into a life where humanity is completely dismantled. It's a film that depicts how reality is often stranger than fiction. ‘To a Land Unknown’ tells the story of the desperate attempts of two Palestinian cousins stranded in Athens to find a way to reach Germany. Chatila and Reda are saving to pay for fake passports to get out of Athens. When Reda loses their hard-earned cash to his drug addiction, Chatila hatches an extreme plan, which involves them posing as smugglers and taking hostages in an effort to get him and his best friend out of their hopeless environment before it is too late.

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