The three-day festival where the latest of the latest from the pop and rock world from Flanders and Holland can be heard. Sonic Connections is rock, post-punk, indie, singer-songwriter, electronics and avant-garde: a festival for everybody who connects at the right pitch.
IMAGINE | www.imaginefilmfestival.nl
Premières galore, retrospectives, a symposium and late-night talkshows and retrospectives feature at this annual film fest devoted to the cult, horror, thriller, fantasy, sci-fi and animation genres. (This is the festival formally known as the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival.)
NATIONAL MUSEUM WEEKEND | www.museumweekend.nl
More than 500 diverse museums throughout the Netherlands (including the majority of Amsterdam's institutes), open for a festive weekend with either free – or reduced – entrance.
WORLD PRESS PHOTO | www.worldpressphoto.nl
This prestigious annual exhibition of award-winning photojournalism opens in Amsterdam before travelling onto 40 countries around the world. The photographer of the winning image features in a retrospective of their work, alongside the other award-winning photos (all divided into themes). Although the exhibition can often be confronting (there is something intrinsically powerful about a still – as opposed to moving – image), it remains a veritable hommage to the photo-journalist who often works in life-threatening conditions to report the news.
QUEEN'S DAY | www.koninginnedagamsterdam.nl
The Netherlands' notorious national holiday sees a mass of flea markets and street parties, alongside formal ceremonies, in towns and cities throughout the country. Amsterdam however, has the party to end all parties. Wear orange.