StormCloud Pictures was founded in June 1998 by Bart Konings and Berry van der Vorst, then still two high school students.
               
In the summer of that year, StormCloud made its first two films, both of them shorts. One of those little projects consisted of 4 commercials, which were made to participate in Dutch tv-show 'Take 2'. The concept of this show was 1) to let people re-enact their favorite tv commercial and 2) to invent a new commercial. StormCloud chose the latter option and hours of brainstorming resulted in about 8 serious ideas, but only 4 were considered good enough to take into production. These four commercials were subsequently applied for the tv-show.

Not long afterwards, StormCloud was actually invited to the show, since one of the four commercials was nominated. A professional jury oversaw the competition, but unfortunately StormCloud didn't go home victorious. But at that time, winning wasn't even important. Just being there and participating in a nationally broadcasted tv-show with a self-made film was more than StormCloud could have dreamt at that stage.

Take 2 was broadcasted in February 1999, and marked a definitive moment in StormCloud's increasing enthusiasm and inspiration.

BIG PLANS                       

Only a few months afterwards, pre-production was commenced on 'Camariggon', an ambitious large scale film, set in a dark medieval world. It was the story of a young girl growing up in an alienated world, surrounded by fear and hatred. With an anarchous revolt brawling in darkness, Camariggon discovers that she is not the girl she had always thought to be --- and from that moment onwards, Camariggon engages in a massive battle for justice and peace.

As a project on a relatively large scale, the film required fabrication of costumes, location scouting, gathering people and much, much more. A lot of money was spent, let alone the vast amounts of time and energy the project requested. Due to time constraints, StormCloud was forced to start shooting in the Spring of 1999, although still being in pre-production. A few scenes were shot in two consecutive weekends, while the assembling of all the  costumes that were needed continued as well.

Then, on a saturday in April 1999, Bart Konings died - completely unexpected - due to a heart attack. In the months following Bart's death - which left a devastating impression on everyone involved - StormCloud was in a state of hibernation. All film activities were frozen for an undefinite amount of time.

GOING ON                       

It took over a year for the remnants of StormCloud to decide to start again. Bart probably wouldn't have wanted StormCloud to cease existing, and so the company was revived again, dedicating every future film to Bart's name.  

In the Fall of 2000, StormCloud produced the short 'Relative Happiness', which gained a lot of positive reactions and was screened at 'Het Gorcums Filmfestival' in November 2001.

Relative Happiness was followed by 'Jamie Miller' in 2003, an action movie, shot during an archaeological expedition in Greece. Featuring a cast and crew consisting solely of students, it was a welcome deviation from the hard labor in the field.

SUCCESS                       

In December 2004, 'Dear Mommy' - StormCloud's newest short film - premiered at Amateur Film Festival "De Ronde Venen Open" and took home both Best Fiction and Laureate of the Festival awards. In 2005, Dear Mommy was awarded with the Best Film and Best Camera awards at MCM Film Fest (The Netherlands), and in 2006 with a Silver Standardat the British International Amateur Film Festival (BIAFF) in Bedford (United Kingdom) and a Silver award at Fast Forward Film Festival (4XF).

In May 2005, 'A Mind's Eye' was released at Benelux Film Festival in Oostende, Belgium. Co-directed and scored by Jesse de Blois, the movie tells the story of a young couple that gets separated by fate, and starts to see their love in an entirely different light. A Mind's Eye won the Most Promising Talent award at the afore mentioned festival, as well as the Best Film at Woeste Weduwe Film Festival and a Silver Standard at the British International Amateur Film Festival in Bedford, United Kingdom.

Not long after production on A Mind's Eye finished, StormCloud stared a new project:'Nexus'. The experience gained over the years proved a really useful addition to the ever present enhusiasm and drive to make a good and engaging film. Nexus depicts the story of a father and his son, who have lost contact over the years, but are about to meet each other for a last time. All the effort that went into the production of Nexus paid off immediately, as the film was awarded with a Silver award at Amateur Film Festival "De Ronde Venen Open" in December 2005. Other honors bestowed upon Nexus include a Gold Standard at BIAFF 2006, a Gold award at 4XF 2006 and a Best Youth Entry Award at Benelux Film Festival 2006 in Luxembourg.

In januari 2006, StormCloud was nominated for a Cultural Youth Award, handed out by the province of Limburg (Southern Netherlands).

CELEBRATION

In June 2008, StormCloud Pictures celebrated it's 10th anniversary with the release of a new film: Rex. Veering more and more towards professional filmmaking, Rex was entered into the Shocking Shorts Award, a national competition, organised by NBC Universal in cooperation with the Dutch Film Festival. Although the film was disqualified from the competition due to the fact that Rex runs for about 7 minutes too long, it was awarded an Honourable Mention by the jury (which included Rutger Hauer, Monique van de Ven and Jean van de Velde, among others). During the annual Golden Knight Film Festival in Valetta, Malta (November 2008), Rex was awarded a Bronze Knight award.

In total, StormCloud Pictures has collected over 20 awards at 12 international film festivals.