JOTTUM KOK
FILM DIRECTOR

Jottum Kok (1999, The Netherlands) is a film director with a Bachelor of Design from the University of the Arts Utrecht (HKU). His work centers around themes of identity, sexuality, and the search for belonging. Growing up in a small rural town in the south of the Netherlands, Jottum came out as gay at the age of twelve, an experience that brought challenges and a lasting sense of being out of place. This ongoing search for connection and community forms the emotional core of his work.

His graduation film Tell Me I’m Wrong won the 3Lab student contribution award, leading to a collaboration with broadcaster VPRO. This short fiction film explores the friendship between an Iranian queer asylum seeker and a Dutch gay intern at a refugee center. The film premiered in the student competition at the Netherlands Film Festival 2022. At the same time, his short documentary Glow, about a Ukrainian drag queen living in the refugee center, premiered in the debut competition.

After graduating, he directed the short fiction film Tomorrow Will Be Better, which explores the intense relationship between a mother and her queer daughter. Financed by Netflix, the film had its world premiere at IFFR 2024. That same year, Jottum won the Fiction Competition at the Roze Filmdagen, the Netherlands’ largest queer festival, enabling him to create his next film Motion Sickness, which tells the story of two teenage boys discovering their sexuality during a classic Dutch summer vacation. The film was shown at the Dutch embassy in London to mark the opening of Pride weekend, and with it Jottum took part in Dutch Film Talents to Cannes as one of eight emerging Dutch directors selected for masterclasses and networking at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. Currently, he is taking part in Studio Camera Lab, where he is making his first steps towards developing his debut feature, No Man's Land, with the help of his mentor Mees Peijnenburg.

Jottum’s commitment to telling underrepresented queer stories through a personal and intimate lens has brought his films to festivals worldwide, including the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), Netherlands Film Festival, the Roze Filmdagen and OUTshine Film Festival Miami.