Pronounced Yosha Dook — not Juicy Duck — Joosje Duk is a screenwriter & director based between New York and The Netherlands, selected for Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe. Joosje aims to create socially conscious content through a colorful lens. In The Netherlands, her work has reached #1 in the Top 10 on Netflix, Amazon Prime & Videoland.
HAPPY ENDING
HAPPY ENDING is a Netflix feature film written and directed by Joosje, which was released globally on Netflix in September 2023. In its release week, the film made it to #3 on the Global Top 10 list on Netflix. The film has over 6.6 million views and has been in the Top 10 in 46 countries across the world.
In the film, Luna (Gaite Jansen) and her boyfriend Mink (Martijn Lakemeier) are a couple celebrating their one-year anniversary. But Mink doesn’t know that Luna has been faking her orgasms since the start of their relationship. When Luna’s best friends urge her to try new things in the bedroom, Luna proposes an exciting idea: a threesome. The following evening with Eve (Joy Delima) turns Luna’s life upside down.
MÁXIMA
MÁXIMA is an international drama series that explores the life of Queen Máxima of the Netherlands. The series tells the story of Máxima's journey from her early life in Argentina and New York to becoming the future queen of the Netherlands.
The series shot in New York, Spain, Argentina, Belgium and the Netherlands. Episodes are directed by Saskia Diesing, Joosje Duk and Iván López Núñez. Argentinian actress Delfina Chaves and Martijn Lakemeier star as Queen Máxima and King Willem-Alexander. Joosje and her fellow directors were nominated for a Dutch Oscar for Best Directing.
MÁXIMA premiered at Canneseries 2024 and broke streaming records for Videoland upon its release. The series was sold to over 70 countries and has been renewed for a second season, which Joosje will be one of the directors for.
NORDIN
NORDIN is a comedy series Joosje co-directed with Achmed Akkabi for Amazon Prime. When luxury-loving Nordin Kynani (Khalid Alterch) is forced by his mother to spend a year teaching at an underprivileged school, he expects an easy ride. But between rebellious students, a corrupt principal, and his own ego, he soon learns that real life isn't about fast cars, but about making an impact.
Lead actor Khalid Alterch received a Dutch Oscar nomination for his role as Nordin. Upon its release, the series quickly rose to #1 on Amazon Prime.
Ik zie je bij de uitgang
Joosje’s non-fiction literary debut, Ik zie je bij de uitgang (I’ll see you at the exit), an ICU diary she wrote for her father about his battle with covid, was released by Lebowski Publishers in September. You can purchase a copy online:
NIGHT
NIGHT is a short film about micro-aggressions in which the carefree dynamic between four friends suddenly shifts following an unpleasant encounter with a nightclub bouncer. NIGHT won the Huffington Post Arts Impact Award and played at over 25 film festivals worldwide. The film was invited by Disney to screen at their studios, and premiered online via Paper Magazine. NIGHT gained over a million views online.
ALMOST STARRING
ALMOST STARRING (EDELFIGURANT) is an 8-episode online comedy series, which Joosje wrote and directed. The series was selected for the Golden Calf Competition (Dutch Oscars) at the Netherlands Film Festival 2021. In the series, an ambitious film extra gets the opportunity to take her career to the next level by becoming a featured extra. The series stars three Golden Calf-winning actors: Loes Schnepper, Hannah Hoekstra and Frank Lammers.
THIN ICE
THIN ICE (GLAD IJS) is a short film about society’s fear of terrorist attacks. The film follows an employee at a local ice skating rink who gets increasingly nervous once he sees a suspicious man with a backpack. THIN ICE was supported by The Ministry of Justice and Security in The Netherlands and received the ShortsTV Pitch Prize at the Netherlands Film Festival. It was selected for the Oscar-qualifying Atlanta and Hamptons International Film Festival and gained over 400k views online.
GAPPIES
In collaboration with Dutch network VPRO and production company Millstreet Films, Joosje developed the pilot for GAPPIES, a comedy tv and web series about five supermarket employees, known as ‘gappies’. When a new manager wants to modernize the supermarket, old school cashier Greet (Loes Schnepper, winner of a Dutch Oscar), starts a secret uprising against him. GAPPIES aired on Dutch television.
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Joosje directed two music videos, for the song Troostzoekers by Wende and Froukje, as well as Sleep When I’m With You by The Indien. She also directed her commercials for NVM Makelaar and Budget Thuis.
In the US, Joosje is in early development for her feature film SUNSHOWERS, a whimsical story tackling mental health issues through the eyes of a teen girl who loses her sight of color. Most recently, Sunshowers was selected for the Tribeca Film Festival’s Writing in Unreal program.
