New Online Series Amsterdam Ave.

About Amsterdam Avenue

Amsterdam Ave is a new dramady web-series about two girls, one Dutch and one American, switching places to follow their dreams while living abroad. Maya is a Dutch-Surinamese girl living with her fiancé Jordi in Amsterdam. When Maya receives the news that she’s invited to audition for the Manhattan Academy of Dramatic Arts, she’s faced with the dilemma of settling down in Amsterdam with Jordi versus following her dreams in NYC.

Kyran is a first generation Indian-American girl living in NYC. She aspires to be a DJ but feels pressured by her family’s expectations to stay in her day job at a luxury fashion corporation. When she’s selected to participate in a DJ competition in Amsterdam, she decides to uproot her life and take a leap of faith.

Maya and Kyran end up connecting online and switching places. The girls go on their own adventures to figure out who they are and how to achieve their dreams. The series aims to explore both cities from an expat perspective, and to show what it’s like to take that risk of moving abroad. Amsterdam Ave is created by a strong team of female filmmakers. The series is written by duo Dionne van den Berg & Pooja Tripathi, who also star in the series as Maya and Kyran. It is directed by Amanda Hannah-Mcleer, an up-and-coming director who’s been on Comedy Central’s Broad City post-production team for the past 5 seasons. The cinematographer is Eveline Haverlag, an established young filmmaker based in Amsterdam.  Music Direction will be done by DJ twins Coco & Breezy, who also make an appearance in the series. Dutch and American talent includes Catherine Curtin, Beau Schneider, Farrieda Smit, Michael de Roos, and Manoushka Zeegelaar Breeveld.

About the filmmakers: Dionne van den Berg & Pooja Tripathi

Dionne and Pooja met in a chance encounter in the south of France. They bumped into each other at a club in sunny St. Tropez, and quickly hit it off. The two became friends when Dionne moved to New York City. While Dionne was studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and Pooja was working in fashion, they began brainstorming ideas for shows and writing together. They are now a filmmaking duo under Fountain Avenue Productions, and are creating their own original work in NYC, LA and the Netherlands.

Creator’s Statement 

As two female filmmakers of color, we aim to empower women and non-binary individuals in all facets of the industry. We strongly believe in including and normalizing diversity of all kinds in our productions.
Coming from Indian and Surinamese heritage, we are third culture kids who did not grow up in the cultures we come from. Pooja is first-generation Indian American, and Dionne is Dutch-Surinamese, and an expat to the US herself. We found that shows in the US are most often told from the American perspective, rather than the perspective of an international expat; and Americans often visit Europe as tourists and don’t fully integrate into the local culture, and vice versa. In our show, we aim to illustrate what it feels like for an American to be an expat in Europe, and for a European to be an expat in the US. We hope Maya & Kyran’s adventures will be relatable for expats all over the world, and for those who have dreamed about moving abroad.

Amsterdam Ave. The Series, credits Myrthe Giesbers, courtesy of Amsterdam Ave. The Series

Events

November 7, 07:00 -10:00 PM – Release Party NYC (In collaboration with The Netherland Club, sponsored by Heineken) Click on this link for tickets.

November 18, 06:00 – 08:00 PM –  Reel Stories, Oakland, CA

November 20, 06:00 – 08:00 PM – Linkedin San Francisco, CA

November 21, 06:00 – 08:00 PM – Consulate General of the Netherlands San Francisco

January 6, 01:00 – 03:00 PM – Feminist Camp NYC, WeWork Screening Room

Trailer

Follow Fountain Avenue Productions on YouTube for more information.