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Dutch Films At Berlinale 2016

Double Dutch - twice as many Dutch films at Berlinale 2016

Fifteen films from The Netherlands have been selected for the 66th Berlin International Film Festival that runs 11-21 Feb 2016. This doubles the number of Dutch selections for Berlin in 2015. What’s more, nine of these films are documentaries, which underlines The Netherlands’ ongoing strength in the genre.

Dutch production company Topkapi Films co-produced the much anticipated Competition title The Commune* by Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg.

Two Dutch films are selected for Panorama Dokumente: Strike a Pose*, directed by Ester Gould & Reijer Zwaan (produced by CTM Docs and The Other Room), and Inside The Chinese Closet*, directed by Sophia Luvarà and produced by Boudewijn Koole’s Witfilm. Strike a Pose is about the dancers in Madonna’s legendary Blond Ambition Tour and were featured in the documentary Truth or Dare. The film will have its world premiere in Berlin. Inside The Chinese Closet portrays a Chinese gay man Andy and lesbian girl Cherry, in their desperate attempt to fulfil their parents’ expectations. Both Strike a Pose and Inside The Chinese Closet will compete for a Teddy Award.

Topkapi Films again is co-producer of the Panorama title All of a Sudden* by Turkish director Asli Özge.

As in previous years Dutch youth cinema is strongly represented in the Generation competition. The Generation Kplus section opens with the world premiere of Swedish co-production Siv Sleeps Astray*, directed by Catti Edfeldt & Lena Hanno Clyne and co-produced by Viking Film. Dutch documentary Young Wrestlers*, directed by Mete Gümürhan and produced by Kaliber Film, will also have its world premiere in this section.

Selected for the Berlinale Shorts Competition is minority co-production A Man Returned, a short documentary directed by Amsterdam-based Danish/Palestinian filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel, and produced by Nakba FilmWorks (UK).

Three Dutch short films are selected for Generation Kplus: the documentaries Ninnoc by Niki Padidar (prod. Zuidenwind Filmproductions) and Skatekeet by Edward Cook (prod. Tangerine Tree). The section also includes the animated Jonas and the Sea (Zeezucht)*, directed by Marlies van der Wel (prod. Halal).

Selected for Generation 14plus is the short film Spoetnik*, directed by Noël Loozen and produced by Halal. Spoetnik is Loozen’s first short film.

No less than three Dutch documentaries, all feature documentary debutes, are selected for the 10th edition of Culinary Cinema. The screening of Need for Meat by Marijn Frank, produced by IDTV Docs, will be followed by a special dinner arranged with top Berlin chef Sonja Frühsammer from the Michelin-starred Frühsammers Restaurant. Ants on a Shrimp, directed by Maurice Dekkers, produced by BlazHoffski and co-produced by Dahl TV, will have its world premiere in this programme. The film follows globally renowned chef Rene Redzepi as he temporarily relocates his Noma restaurant from Copenhagen to Japan. Rosie Stapel’s debut film Portrait of a Garden is also selected for Culinary Cinema.

Selected for Forum is Humidity*, directed by Serbian director Nikola Ljuca and co-produced by Lemming Film. The cast features two Dutch lead actors: Maria Kraakman (Schneider vs Bax) and Dragan Bakema (The Paradise Suite, Brownian Movement).

And looking to the future, the 2016 Berlinale Co-Production Market presents two projects from the Netherlands: Invite Me to War* from director Shariff Korver (The Intruder) and production company Lemming Film, and Avrupa*, a project from writer/director Sacha Polak (Zurich) and producer/writer Stienette Bosklopper (Circe Films) selected for the CoPro Series event.

*) Supported by the Netherlands Film Fund