
July 7th, 1974. The Netherlands has just lost the FIFA World Cup final to West Germany. Now, the country is quiet, as if in mourning. But Jonas, a young boy, doesn’t really care for football. More concerned with collecting antiquities than sports, he makes his way around his sleepy town, encountering a cast of characters along the way who introduce him to the complexities of human nature, all while accompanied by his rebellious and unpredictable classmate Daan. Meanwhile, the potential abduction of a young girl, who happens to be Jonas’s schoolroom crush, casts a darker shadow over the town.
Directed by Guido van Driel, the creator of the graphic novel on which the film is based, and with black-and-white cinematography by Lennert Hillege, When We Lost to the Germans is a palpably authentic coming-of-age movie that might remind you of Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma or Italian neo-realist classics in the way it effortlessly conveys a specific time and place. The kids are wonderful, as the movie treads that fine, fragile line between innocence and experience.
Community Partner
Rein Hoeke, Kylian de Pagter, Susanne Wolff, Sanne Vogel, Peter Blok, Juda Goslinga
Netherlands
2023
In Dutch with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Producer
Floor Onrust
Screenwriter
Guido van Driel, Bas Blokker
Cinematography
Lennert Hillege
Editor
Stijn Deconinck
Production Design
Vincent de Pater
Original Music
Raf Keunen

Guido van Driel
Guido van Driel has written and drawn many successful graphic novels, of which When We Lost to the Germans was published in Germany and Guests in France. Van Driel’s debut film The Resurrection of a Bastard (2013), starring Yorick van Wageningen, was the opening film of IFFR 2013. Van Driel’s second feature Bloody Marie (2019) also premiered in Rotterdam, starring Susanne Wolff and Jan Bijvoet. When We Lost to the Germans is his third feature.
Filmography: The Resurrection of a Bastard (2013); Bloody Marie (2019)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
That They May Face the Rising Sun
John and Kate have moved from London to a farm in Ireland, to the bemusement of the locals. This lyrical Irish reverie taps deep wells of feeling in the stuff of everyday life.
Secret Mall Apartment
The stranger-than-fiction true story of a group of artists who built and furnished a hidden apartment inside a mall, remaining undetected for years. This is an absurdly fun and surprisingly profound film about gentrification and art.
The Encampments
When pro-Palestine protests took hold of Columbia last year, the filmmakers were there from the beginning. This documentary charts the mounting tensions between students and the administration, as the protests were picked up across North America.
The Teacher
In this potent thriller, English teacher Basem witnesses the murder of a teenager by a Israeli settler. While the subsequent investigation rolls slowly towards a foregone conclusion, the teacher is caught up in a parallel kidnapping case...
Bob Trevino Likes It
When her toxic, narcissistic dad cuts her out of his life, Lily Trevino looks him up on Facebook and happens across his namesake, Bob (John Leguizamo), a gentle, genial contractor who lives nearby, and who proves an altogether better dad...
A Duke Ellington Tribute with the Mike Braverman Sextet
After a scintillating session of Duke standards performed by The Mike Braverman Sextet, enjoy a roundup of Ellingtonia on Film: his first short sound films from the late 20s and 30s, and clips from the scores he composed in the 50s and 60s.