TIFF ’18 and Ten Dutch Films

Sydney Levine

Published in

SydneysBuzz The Blog

4 min readOct 1, 2018

The Netherlands had 10 films including shorts, docs and fiction features at TIFF this year.

Retrospekt*, the second feature by award-winning director/screenwriter Esther Rots world-premiered in the Contemporary World Cinema programme of the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. The film is produced by Rots Filmwerk (NL) and Column Film (NL) in co-production with Serendipity Films (BE).

In a stunning non-linear structure Retrospekt unfolds the layered story of Mette (37) who questions where the sense of fulfillment she once felt with her husband and daughter has gone. When the care agency she works for can’t provide what she considers adequate support for Miller, a victim of domestic violence, Mette takes her into her family home, a decision that has life-changing consequences.

Esther Rots’ first feature Can Go Through Skin* world-premiered at Berlinale 2009 and won numerous prizes worldwide, including the FIPRESCI Award at Transylvania and the Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award at Gothenburg. Esther’s short films Play with Me (2002) and I Sprout (2003) both world-premiered at Cannes Shorts Competition.

Three minority Dutch co-productions were also selected for TIFF’s Contemporary World Cinema programme: the international premiere of Angel* by Koen Mortier (NL co-producer: Graniet Film), the world premiere of Stupid Young Heart* by Selma Vilhunen (NL co-producer: Windmill Film), and Cannes winner Donbass* by Sergei Loznitsa (NL co-producers: Graniet Film and Wild at Art). Donbass was one of TIFF’s best selling titles this year.

Sergei Loznitsa’s The Trial*, produced by Atoms & Void (NL), was presented in the Wavelengths section. The film, which world premieres in Venice Out of Competition, uses unique archive footage to present one of Stalin’s first show trials as an actor-led theatrical performance in which prosecutors, witnesses, defendants and judges lie to themselves, to the audience and to the world. The film records events in Moscow’s Pillar Hall of the State House of the Unions in 1930, when a group of top ranking economists and engineers is put on trial accused of plotting a coup d’état against the Soviet government.

The selection of five other Dutch (co)productions:

The world premiere of minority Dutch co-production Rojo*, directed by Benjamín Naishtat (NL co-producer: Viking Film) takes place in Platform competition.

The documentaries Heartbound* by Janus Metz (NL co-producer: BALDR Film) and Freedom Fields by Naziha Arebi (supported by IDFA Bertha Fund) both world-premiered in TIFF Docs.

Short Cuts competition included L’été et tout le reste*, directed by Sven Bresser and produced by IJswater Films (NL). The film first had its world premiere in Venice’s Orizzonti Short Films Competition. When, at the end of the summer, the last of the ferries leave Corsica and most of Marc-Antoine’s friends have left for the mainland to study or to work, he and his friend Mickael remain behind on the deserted island. Mickael is full of plans to leave, but Marc-Antoine seems unwilling to escape his old life.

Also in Short Cuts Competition was the Belgian/Dutch/French short This Magnificent Cake* by Marc James Roels and Emma De Swaef (NL co-producer: PEDRI animation), which world-premiered in Cannes Quinzaine.

*supported by the Netherlands Film Fund

For more information:

Retrospekt
Esther Rots
esther@rotsfilmwerk.nl
http://rotsfilmwerk.nl/

Angel
Graniet Film
info@granietfilm.nl
www.granietfilm.nl

Stupid Young Heart
Windmill Film
annemiek@windmillfilm.com
www.windmillfilm.com

Donbass
Graniet Film
info@granietfilm.nl
www.granietfilm.nl

Sales: Pyramide Films
sales@pyramidefilms.com
www.pyramidefilms.com

The Trial
Atoms & Void
contact@atomsvoid.com
www.facebook.com/atomsvoid

Rojo
Viking Film
marleen@vikingfilm.nl
www.vikingfilm.nl

Sales: Luxbox
info@luxboxfilms.com
www.luxboxfilms.com

Heartbound
BALDR Film
info@baldrfilm.nl
www.baldrfilm.nl

Sales: Autlook Filmsales
salma@autlookfilms.com
www.autlookfilms.com