"Love is All" picks up Best Dutch film award

The box-office hit comedy "Love is All/Alles is Liefde" picked up the Best Film award at the 2008 Golden Calves ceremony (Dutch national film awards) on the last day of the Netherlands Film Festival. Over a million visitors saw the film last year, which also earned the Best Director Golden Calf for Joram Lürsen. The script is by Kim van Kooten.

Robert Jan Westdijk’s "In Real Life" won awards in the categories of Best Cinematography and Best Editing, while Mijke de Jong’s "Katia’s Sister" was awarded Golden Calves for Best Supporting Actress (Olga Louzgina), and Best Screenplay, for Jan Eilander and Jolein Laarman. Paula van der Oest’s "Tiramisu" won Best Actress honours for Anneke Blok and Best Score for Michiel Borstlap.

The acting awards for men went to Robert de Hoog for his role as a Jewish skinhead in "Skin" and Ton Kas for his supporting role in the political satire "Vox Populi". The Audience Award went to "Mafrika" from Paul Ruven.

Local heroes
I often pick out winners at the festivals around Europe, and looking back at them, it still surprises me how few of them break through outside their home territories. Scandinavia has a thriving local cinema that simply does not travel for the moment. The region of Flanders in Belgium has the same problem. In fact, it's worse. Even though they share a language with the Netherlands (Dutch), the two show very little interest in each others' movies.

This is clearly a huge handicap to the development of Europe's industry. Going back a decade or so, the French cinema used to produce movies of a large scale that were released globally. They often called on Italian or Polish directors for ambitious projects. They have scaled back considerably since then, despite a healthy flow of successes such as "Amélie Poulain", "La vie en rose" or the "Taxi" franchise.

Every five years or so, someone tries to set up a larger European company with global ambitions. But they seem to hit a glass ceiling every so often. It has also regularly been said that the type of project being produced in Europe (such as "Love is All") are films with in-built limitations in terms of mass appeal.

Until something changes - in either the development or the distribution - most of these local heroes seem to be condemned to being just that.

This article is featured on the Carnival of Cinema.

Anton Corbijn film to open Director's Fortnight

Dutch rock photographer Anton Corbijn's "Control" will open the Cannes' Director's Fortnight with a biopic about the Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, who killed himself at the age of 23. The film, written by Matt Greenhalgh and based on the book "Touching From a Distance" by Curtis' wife Deborah, looks at the last years of his life when he was battling with epilepsy and an increasingly confusing private life.

The après-showing party will be attended by Bono as well as members of Depeche Mode and New Order. Will anyone take to the stage? Likely, but who?

Verhoeven's "Black Book" trailer online

Paul Verhoeven, the maker of "Basic Instinct", "Total Recall" and "Starship Troopers" is making a return to the screen with a Dutch-speaking film. "Zwartboek/Black Book" will be released in Holland in September, according to the site of the Dutch distributor A Film which is already airing the trailer (click on the photo left). The story of a Dutch Jew trying to survive in Holland during the war was co-written with Gerard Soeteman, the prolific writer of "Turks Fruit/Turkish Delight" and "Soldier of Orange". Carice van Houten and Thom Hoffman are the stars in what looks like being a lush period piece. Verhoeven and Hoffman have been working on the story on and off for 20 years.

"Black Book" is a Dutch/UK/German co-production. It will be unveiled at the upcoming Venice Film Festival. "I could not think of a more beautiful premiere for my film," says Verhoeven. Releases have been arranged in some 50 countries, which is quite exceptional for a Dutch-speaking film.

Paul Verhoeven on Amazon FR

Dutch hit success with child's play

Reading the figures for European movie-going a year ago, I gave the free advice that if we wanted to try to write sucessful movies, we should be writing for kids and young adults. Since then, of course, we've had another "Harry Potter" to prove my point. But even outside the mainstream studio releases, there are examples. Screendaily.com just ran a piece about the 2005 box office in Holland. Although overall figures are down by 12%, attendance of Dutch movies is up by over 13%. This includes "Kameleon 2" (Steven de Jong), "Zoop in Africa" (Johan Nijenhuis), "Schnitzel Paradise "(Martin Koolhoven) and "Winky's Horse" (Mischa Kamp). The last Dutch film of the year to be released was, "De Griezelbus", an adaptation of the very popular children’s books by Dutch writer Paul van Loon.

Hmm, maybe I should take some of my own advice from now on.

Dutch director questions sequel following Van Gogh murder

In a sad sequel to the murder of Theo Van Gogh in the Netherlands, Albert ter Heerdt the producer/director/writer of charming hit comedy “Shouf Shouf Habib” is considering postponing the follow-up, according to Screen International. During a debate on self-censorship in Amsterdam organised by film magazine De Filmkrant and film theatre Het Ketelhuis, he said he had been advised against it by Muslim friends claiming it was “dangerous”. “Shouf” follows the tribulations of a Moroccan family trying to integrate into Amsterdam. Its release caused some commotion, despite the feelgood nature of the work. Given the current tense situation in the Netherlands, Ter Heert feels a sequel “might be interpreted the wrong way”. He also said he feared the potential consequences.

Shouf Shouf Habib on IMDB

EDIT: Nov 29. Screenplay Europe has just read that Van Gogh's video diaries will be put online by provider Tiscali. For details, see here.