Lioness

Raymond
Grimbergen

Raymond discovers the magical world of capturing motion pictures

by studying television journalism and years of experience

in the field after that.

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He directs, shoots and edits many famous Dutch television shows.

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In 2016 he finishes his first film, the documentary Closer to Maarten.

This story about a young man's search for his missing brother,

in the mountains of Northern India, was selected for eleven

film festivals worldwide and won a Golden Stone Award

at the Scenecs International Film Festival.

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In 2018 Raymond directed his first fiction film,

Brugklas: De tijd van m'n leven. This film is about a group of kids

in their first years at high school. It was a big success and it won a Golden Film Award for having more than 180K visitors.

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Two years later he finished his second documentary, Destination Sobibor, about a young man's road trip to the remote former nazi camp Sobibor, in eastern Poland. On his way to the place where almost his entire family was murdered, this young man is trying to find an answer to all

the questions he has about the faith of his lost family members.

The film was an official selection for the Miami Jewish Film Festival in 2022.

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Last year his second fiction film Lioness, a coming-of-age film after

his own idea, hit cinemas. This story, about a talented football girl struggling to adapt to her new situation, was released in the Netherlands and Belgium in April 2023.

Later that year the film played in Suriname, Curaçao and Aruba.

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Lioness was selected for film festivals in Italy, Germany, Japan,

Poland, Switzerland, India, the United States and Norway and

picked up prizes in Italy, Switzerland, Poland and India.

Moreover, the film was sold to Germany and will play

in German cinemas this September.

Fourteen-year-old Rosi lives for soccer, her friends, family, basically everything dear to her on the sun-drenched island of Suriname. However, she loses a lot of that when she moves with her parents and brother to the Netherlands. Fortunately, she doesn't have to navigate the new environment alone when she meets the kind-hearted Jitte, who introduces her to the soccer team. As a newcomer, she doesn't have an easy time and must fight for her place in the starting lineup. She has exceptional talent, which some of her teammates don't like. The coach’s favoritism towards Rosi begins to bother even Jitte, who is benched because of Rosi. It is at this tense moment when a sad event occurs in the family, forcing her to think about what soccer actually means to her. Is her dream still to make it to the national team? This film from the world of girls' soccer became a favorite of festival screenings after its release.