Seattle International Film Festival presenting 4 Dutch Productions

Johan Primero (2010)

Johan Primero (2010)
Sunday, May 29, 2011 at 9:45 PM
AMC Pacific Place 11 - Seattle, WA
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Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 9:00 PM
Everett Performing Arts Center - Everett, WA
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Monday, June 6, 2011 at 9:00 PM
Admiral Theatre - Bremerton, WA
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In Johan Primero, Johan Puig is a 42-year-old man who spends his time driving 50 laps a day in his Citroen 2CV around the stadium which is home to the Barcelona football club. He never misses a lap, convinced that this ritual, which originated with his beloved father some 30 years previously (and whose ashes now ride around in the front seat), is the secret of the club’s success. He has constructed his life entirely around this daily routine, with regular stops throughout the neighborhood: at the local café, for a few cortados with his friend Jorge; at the playground to dispense football tips to neighborhood kid Leo; at the candy store to refresh his stash of Chupa Chups; and at the parking garage, for naps. One day, while he’s stopped at a red light, a girl named Paquita washes his windows. She’s cute, she’s friendly, she’s even a soccer fan…but will it be enough to get Johan out of his car?

Win/Win (2011)

Win/Win (2011)
Monday, May 30, 2011 at 6:30 PM
Egyptian Theater - Seattle, WA
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Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 4:30 PM
Neptune Theatre - Seattle, WA
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Friday, June 10, at 7:00 PM

Kirkland Performance Center - Kirkland, WA

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If a man gets everything he wants with almost no effort, can he ever be truly happy? Jaap van Heusden’s feature debut explores this central theme in the story of Ivan, a young analyst at an Amsterdam brokerage firm who has an uncanny gift for interpreting data. His savant-like abilities are soon discovered by the arrogant, no-nonsense Stef - one of the firm’s top traders - who takes the wunderkind under his wing. Ivan is an immediate sensation, raking in huge daily profits for the firm, receiving a swanky new apartment and getting amorous attention from the pretty receptionist he has secretly admired as dividends. But his gift comes at a great cost. As the profits and his reputation soars, Ivan feels increasingly detached from the rest of the world, soon forcing him to make a momentous decision. Win/Win is an absorbing character study that also subtly skewers the financial hubris that helped bring about the global economic crisis. In between Ivan’s brilliant stock trades, we see glimpses of real-life news reports about the collapse of Bear Stearns splashed across the trading floor’s video screens - warnings that are virtually ignored by the busy traders.

Heading West (2010) movie still. Photo: www.siff.net

Heading West (2010)
Wednesday, June 8, 2011 at 7:00 PM
AMC Pacific Place 11 - Seattle, WA
For ticketsFriday, June 10, 2011 at 4:30 PM
Egyptian Theater - Seattle, WA

For tickets

Heading West is a lovely study of everyday life, or, more specifically, the life of Claire, a 38-year-old woman living in Amsterdam whom we follow over the course of a single year. During this time, she cares for her young son, teaches at a school for deaf children, argues with her ex-husband, and flirts with a stranger. She has dinner with friends, visits her mother, goes shopping, checks up on the elderly neighbor, and makes her way from place to place in the city on her bicycle—even after an accident in which she breaks her arm. None of these experiences may be exceptional in their own right, but when taken together, they form a constellation of the highs and lows, large and small, that make up a life, and illustrate a whole which is more than the sum of its parts in this carefully observed, deeply personal film.

Shocking Blue (2010) movie still. Photo. www.siff.net

Shocking Blue (2010)
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 7:00 PM
AMC Pacific Place 11 - Seattle, WA
For ticketsTuesday, May 24, 2011 at 5:00 PM
AMC Pacific Place 11 - Seattle, WA
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Willem, Jacques, and Chris have been best friends for as long as any of them can remember. In Shocking Blue, the three teens all live amongst the colorful expanses of Holland’s tulip fields, which serve as a backdrop for their adolescent games and escapades. No different from country boys everywhere, they approach the threshold of adult life while still clinging to the comforts of an idyllic childhood. Until, that is, the day a tragic accident tears the friendship asunder, resulting in the death of one of them under the wheels of an out-of-control tractor with Willem at the wheel. Suspicions arise that the accident may have had something to do with jealousy over the previous night, when Jacques had gone off for a romantic encounter with pretty, 15-year-old Marianne, but nobody is talking. Mark de Cloe’s second feature is a touching coming-of-age drama, but also a wistful meditation on a shattered friendship. Making excellent use of the bright hues and light of a warm Dutch summer, the film unspools in romantic, almost mythic tones and clearly bodes well for the future of the country’s acting talent with its attractive and surprisingly accomplished young leads.

Sintel (2010) movie still. Photo: www.siff.net

 

Sintel (2010)
Saturday, May 28, 2011 at 9:30 PM
(shown as part of Animation United's screening)
SIFF Cinemea - Seattle, WA
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Sintel is an independently produced short film, initiated by the Blender Foundation as a means to further improve and validate the free/open source 3D creation suite Blender. With initial funding provided by 1000s of donations via the internet community, it has again proven to be a viable development model for both open 3D technology as for independent animation film. This 15 minute film has been realized in the studio of the Amsterdam Blender Institute, by an international team of artists and developers. In addition to that, several crucial technical and creative targets have been realized online, by developers and artists and teams all over the world.

The Seattle International Film Festival's mission is to create experiences that bring people together to discover extraordinary films from around the world. It is through the art of cinema that we foster a community that is more informed, aware, and alive. The festival takes place from May 19 - June 22, 2011.  

'Bride Flight' opens in the Paris Theatre in NYC

The original 1953 flight. Photo: cover of Revue October 10th 1953, Nieuwe Revu.

Friday, June 10, 2011 at 1:00 PM (first screening)
The Paris Theater - New York, NY
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Bride Flight (2008) is a lavish romantic drama inspired by the true story of the 1953 KLM flight that won the “Last Great Air Race” from London to Christchurch. The flight was dubbed “Bride Flight” by the international press, because of its special passengers; 40 Dutch immigrants, most of them young women with wedding dresses in their suitcases, traveling to join their fiancés who had already emigrated to New Zealand. Leaving behind the gloom and scarcity of post-WWII Europe, shy but sensual farm girl Ada, dogmatic Marjorie, and Jewish fashion designer Esther are filled with hope for a future of love and freedom. Each takes a very different path in their strange new land, but together with handsome bachelor Frank, they form a bond on the flight that continues to link them for decades to come. Honored with Audience Awards at film festivals across the country, Bride Flight evokes a time of slim choices and desperate optimism, with sweeping views of the New Zealand countryside, stunning period dresses, and the faint smell of Pinot Noir from the thriving vineyard Frank establishes in New Zealand.

 Bride Flight (2008)

Directed by: Ben Sombogaart
Starring: Waldemar Torenstra, Karina Smulders, Anna Drijver, Elise Schaap, Rutger Hauer, Pleuni Touw.

Screenwriter: Marieke van der Pol also wrote the best-selling novel. 

A Music Box Films release.

'Dusk' at Bershire International Film Festival

Schemer / Dusk (2010) movie still. Photo: www.imdb.com

Sunday, June 5, 2011 at 2:30 PM
Triplex Cinema #2 - Great Barrington, MA

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During a scorching hot summer the tension in a group of young friends runs so hight, they decide to murder one of the girls in their group. Dusk is a tragic ensemble film about the emergence of a fascist dictatorship within a group, a dynamic that requires the death of a scapegoat.

The Berkshire International Film Festival is a world-class festival that is an integral part of the cultural fabric of the Berkshires. BIFF showcases not only the latest in independent feature, documentary, short, and family films but also lively panel discussions and special events focusing on filmmakers and talented artists from both sides of the camera.

The festival takes place from June 2-5, 2011.

Politcs on Film Festival ft. 'Majesty' and 'First Mission'

Majesty (2010) movie still.

Politics on Film is a project of the Washington Political Film Foundation and is made possible by an alliance with the Bipartisan Policy Center. It is an annual, bipartisan film festival based in Washington DC dedicated to providing a platform for films that tell stories of America’s politics and policies. The festival celebrates the power of film to educate and motivate, as well as entertain. The Festival also celebrates the historic and ongoing legacy of films about American government and democracy, as well as related stories and themes from an international perspective.
This year's festival includes two Dutch productions:

Majesty

Thursday, May 5, 2011 at 7:00 PM
West End Cinema -  Washington, D.C.

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One hour before the State Opening of Parliament, something very unusual happens in Majesty. The Prime Minister appears and demands an adjustment to the Queen's speech. The speech concerns aid to Africa. Even with all the pressure around the State Opening, Beatrix goes back in time, and remembers her banishment to Canada, the visit to the victims of the Flood disaster and the turbulence suffered by her parents at Palace Soestdijk during the Hofman case.

Majesty (2010) trailer (in Dutch).

First Mission 

Saturday, May 8, 2011 at 4:30 PM
West End Cinema -  Washington, D.C.

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First Mission is a real life drama about the lives and work of a team of doctors on their remote outpost of International Frontline Doctors in South America. The team consists out of young Doctor Marina, the Logistics Manager Barry, Project Coordinator Thijs and local staff members Orlando and Diego; who all work under very difficult and dangerous circumstances. Marina, the lead character, finds out that on the torn continent of Latin-America, it is not about winning prizes, but about being part of the match it self, and that all that matters is to be able to make a difference, even if it is a small one.

First Mission (2010) trailer (in Dutch).

Dutch Productions on the San Francisco International Film Festival

SF Internaional Film Festival. Photo: Courtesy of the San Francisco Film Society

The 54th San Francisco International Film Festival returns April 21 - May 5 for two weeks of cinematic excellence, combining more than 100 unique programs of the finest independent, documentary and international film with a range of marquee premieres, spectacular live events and tributes to world-renowned talent. It brings the best in world cinema to the Bay Area and presents the following Dutch film:

A Cat in Paris is a movie for children of all ages, who will root for the undercats in this beautifully animated caper set against the cityscape of Paris. A sneaky feline, a mute girl, her police detective mom and a big-hearted cat burglar join forces to combat a gangster and his bumbling sidekicks. With short Specky Four Eyes (9 min). A Cat in Paris screenings:

Sunday, April 24, 2011 at 12:30 PM

Sundance Kabuki Cinemas - San Francisco, CA

For tickets

Sunday, May 1, 2011 at12:30 PM

New People - San Francisco, CA

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A Cat in Paris movie still. Photo: Courtesy of the San Francisco Film Society

In The Ligh Thief, a simple electrician affectionately known as Mr. Light finds himself in a difficult position when a politician embraces his dream of generating wind energy for his impoverished town. This stirring allegory of a man confronting injustice and tyranny dramatizes the challenges facing the developing economies of post-Soviet Central Asia. The Light Thief screenings:

Saturday, April 23, 2011 at 7:15 PM 

Sundance Kabuki Cinemas - San Francisco, CA

For tickets
Monday, April 25, 2011 at 9:15 PM

Sundance Kabuki Cinemas - San Francisco, CA

For tickets
Sunday, May 1, 2011 at 8:45 PM
Pacific Film Archive - Bekeley, CA
For tickets

The Light Thief movie still. Photo: Courtesy of the San Francisco Film Society

Position Among the Stars is winner of the IDFA 2010 Awards for Best Feature-length Documentary and Best Dutch Documentary.

In the latest chapter in Helmrich’s (Shape of the Moon, SFIFF 2005) artful portrait of a Jakarta family, the grandmother journeys from the countryside to motivate her university-bound granddaughter. The domestic drama takes place amid increasing materialism and traditional Islam, while Helmrich’s virtuoso style transforms the everyday into art. Position Among the Stars screenings:

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 8:50 PM
Pacific Film Archive - Bekeley, CA
For tickets
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at 6:00 PM
Sundance Kabuki Cinemas - San Francisco, CA 
For tickets
Wednesday, May 4, 2011 at 9:00 PM
Sundance Kabuki Cinemas - San Francisco, CA
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Position Among the Stars movie still. Photo: Courtesy of the San Francisco Film Society

My Joy is about a taciturn truck driver who hits the pitted asphalt road for a journey into rural Russia and encounters with peculiar folk—an old man still plagued by the Great War, a teenage prostitute who shuns kindness, a trio of tramps who wander the wasteland like an unholy trinity—in this surprising guignol about a republic in decline. My Joy screenings:

Saturday, April 30, 2011 at 5:45 PM

Sundance Kabuki Cinemas - San Francisco, CA

For tickets
Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at

Sundance Kabuki Cinemas - San Francisco, CA

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My Joy movie still. Photo: Courtesy of the San Francisco Film Society

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Carice van Houten awarded for Best Actress at the Tribeca Film Festival 2011

Carice van Houten in Black Butterflies (2011). Photo: courtesy of the artist

 

The award winners for the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival have been announced on the website...
Congratulations to Carice van Houten for her role in Black Butterflies!

The 10th Annual Tribeca Film Festival, co-founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, and presented by founding sponsor American Express, announced the winners of its competition categories at a ceremony hosted at the  W Union Square in New York City.  

The world competition winners were chosen from 12 narrative and 12 documentary features from 21 countries, which includes the Netherlands. Carice van Houten won the award for Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film in Black Butterflies.
Best New Director prizes were awarded for both narrative and documentary films, selected from all feature films by a first-time director throughout the program. Awards were also given in four categories in the short film competition. This year’s Festival included 93 features and 60 short films from 40 countries.

The 2011 Tribeca Film Festival runs until May 1.

Bunny at Tribeca Film Festival

Bunny (2010). Photo: screen shot by Rolf Dekens

Friday, April 22, 2011 at 9:30 PM

Clearview Cinemas Chelsea 6 - New York, NY

Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 3:45 PM

Clearview Cinemas Chelsea 8

Saturday, April 30, 2011 at 6:45 PM

Clearview Cinemas Chelsea 8

Sunday, May 01, 2011 at 2:30 PM

Tribeca Cinemas Theater 2 

For tickets

The short film Bunny, who was shot by the Dutch cameraman Rolf Dekens has been selected for the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival in New York. It is the first of four productions that Dekens has shot during the past two years in the US.

For the 10th Tribeca Film Festival, the short film program will be presented in eight thematic programs and a wide range of cultural perspectives. Drawn from 2,862 submissions, the program represents 21 countries, next to the Netherlands it includes Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Haiti, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, Peru, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, and the United States. 

Black Butterflies at Tribeca Film Festival

Black Butterflies (2011). Photo: www.theaterguide.nl

Saturday, April 23, 2011 at 9:00 PM (world premier)

Clearview Cinemas Chelsea 7 - New York, NY

Sunday, April 24, 2011 at 3:30 PM

Clearview Cinemas Chelsea 6 - New York, NY

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 3:30 PM

Clearview Cinemas Chelsea 6 - New York, NY

Friday, April 29, 2011 at 10:00 PM

Clearview Cinemas Chelsea 5 - New York, NY

For tickets
For an article on Carice van Houten reflecting on her latest role as a tragic poet in the Wall Street Journal by Elizabeth Fitzherbert (April 1, 2011).
For a review by Leslie-Stonebraker in the New York Press (April 22,2011).

A film, by Paula van der Oest, about poetry, politics, madness, and desire collide in the true story of the woman hailed as South Africa's Sylvia Plath. In 1960s Cape Town, as Apartheid steals the expressive rights of blacks and whites alike, young Ingrid Jonker (Carice van Houten, Black Book) finds her freedom scrawling verse while frittering through a series of stormy affairs. Amid escalating quarrels with her lovers and her government-censor father (Rutger Hauer), the poet witnesses an unconscionable event that will alter her life's course.

Black Butterflies is nominated for Tribeca Film Festival's world narrtive competition.    

Trailer Black Butterflies (2011)

In her native country The Netherlands, Carice van Houten (1976) has become one of the most beloved actresses. She won several awards, including four Golden Calves for best actress and was voted ‘Best Dutch Actress of All Time’ by the Dutch audience in 2008. Her stunning performance in Paul Verhoeven’s war epic Black Book marked the beginning of Carice’s international breakthrough. In the Tom Cruise/ Bryan Singer film Valkerie, she stars in the female lead as Nina Von Stauffenberg.

In 2006 Carice shines as Jewish singer Rachel Stein in Paul Verhoeven’s critically acclaimed Black Book. For her role in Black Book Carice receives her third Golden Calf for best actress. In The Netherlands the film is exclaimed the best Dutch film of all times. Her role in Black Book launches Carice’s international career.

 

Rutger Hauer was born in Breukelen, Netherlands, the town lending its name to NYC neighbourhood Brooklyn. It has been twenty years since Hauer took the American movie scene by storm. What most Americans don't know is that Rutger has had a very successful film career before he was ever known to American artists. His first turn at movies found him teamed up with Paul Verhoven (RoboCop, Starship Troopers) in the highly acclaimed Turkish Delight. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Picture and went on to become the most successful film in Dutch history.  From there, Rutger starred in many highly acclaimed roles including the Verhoven masterpiece Soldier of Orange.

'Bardsongs' by Sander Francken wins Signis Award

Bardsongs movie trailer

Dutch production Bardsongs by Sander Francken has received the Signis Award, as announced on the Filmfest website.

This year's Filmfest DC is their 25th anniversary. It took place at April 7-17, 2011 in Washington, DC. 

Saint at Tribeca Film Festival

Saint (2010) Directed by Dick Maas. Photo: www.headlines.nos.nl

Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 9:00 PM

AMC Loews Village 7-1 - New York, NY

Saturday, April 23, 2011 at 11:59 PM

Clearview Cinemas Chelsea 7 - New York, NY

Sunday, April 24, 2011 at 12:00 PM

AMC Loews Village 7-1 - New York, NY

Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at 11:30 PM

AMC Loews Village 7-3 - New York, NY

For tickets

For review in the New York Times by Mike Hale (22 April 2011)

An original and delightfully gruesome slasher film, Saint reimagines jolly old Saint Nick as a murderous bishop fulfilling a grisly prophecy under the December 5 full moon. Full of creative yuletide horror, Saint is a fun chiller that follows local teen Frank as he sets out on a bloody, high-energy battle to save Amsterdam from the wrathful "Sinterklaas" and his minions. 

Trailer Saint (2010)

The much-discussed horror Saint has been selected for the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival in New York, as been announced proudly by director Dick Maas.

The Tribeca Film Festival, founded by Robert De Niro, takes place from April 20 to May 1, 2011. Next to Saint also the Dutch productions Black Butterflies and Bunny are selected by the festival.

'Bardsongs' by Sander Francken at Filmfest DC

Bardsongs movie still. Photo: Courtesy by Filmfest DC 

Friday, April 8, 2011 at 6:30 PM
Landmark's E Street Cinema - Washington, DC.
For tickets
Sunday, April 10, 2011 at 7:00 PM
Landmark's E Street Cinema - Washington, DC.
For tickets

Bardsongs is about a fascinating marriage of story and song, the triptych of musical morality tales that compose the unique Bardsongs sprang from the mind of established Dutch documentary filmmaker Sander Francken. Intertwined with musicians performing songs written for the film, the stories take place in the city of Jodhpur in Rajasthan, India; in the city
of Djenne in Mali; and in the Ladakh region in India. In the first story, a collector of plastic waste is philosophical about the cards he’s dealt in life. In the second story, a determined
young boy is urged on by his Koran master to spend a week in the big city searching for the greatest part of all knowledge and is surprised at the answer. In the last story, a hapless farmer endures conflicting advice on his way to sell an animal at market. Evocatively photographed and engagingly acted, Bardsongs is clever, benevolent, and charming.

Bardsongs is spoken in Hindi, Bambara, and Ladakhi with English subtitles 

This year is the 25th anniversary of Filmfest DC. They are proud to reach this quarter-century landmark of introducing Washington, DC to the consistently provocative and innovative films of international cinema, as Anthony Gittens (director) mentions on the website. 

Winter in Wartime (Oorlogswinter) receives good reviews

Winter in Wartime (2008). Photo: film shot

Winter in Wartime (Oorlogswinter) runned this past weekend in three cinemas in New York City and Los Angeles, which yielded an amount of $16,200 and opened to good reviews . In the US the movie holds the seventh position on the site of most popular films this weekend.  Filmdistributor Sony Pictures bought the film after it has been nominated by the Academy Awards for best foreign production in 2009. 

"...a brisk little movie (and has one twist at the end I know I didn’t see coming). And a few of the performances are fine. But this is still a story we’ve heard before" (Stephen Whitty in the New Jersey Star-Ledger). Sheri Linden wrote in the Los Angeles Times: "Straightforward and solid but only mildly involving.... Director Martin Koolhoven elicits strong performances... but fails to sustain tension... smooth and reassuring, never truly gripping".

The spartan world of Martin Koolhoven’s sober, well-made World War II melodrama, Winter in Wartime, is a rustic blue-gray landscape of woods and snow-covered roads through which armed German soldiers roam in trucks. This handsome film, set in a village in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands and shot in Lithuania, is an adaptation of a semiautobiographical 1972 novel by the Dutch author Jan Terlouw, who lived under German occupation for five years. 

For full New York Times review by Stephen Holden (March 17, 2011)

Made in Korea - A One-Way Ticket Seoul - Amsterdam?

Photo: www.kaffny.com

 
Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 2:00 PM

KAFFNY, Chelsea Clearview - New York, NY

Free admission

 

Documentarymaker In-Soo Radstake arrived in Holland from Seoul in 1980. Adopted as a baby by a Dutch couple he is now searching for his true identity. His search takes him along the eight other adopted persons who came with the same flight to Holland. He also visits the orphanage in Seoul where he once lived. He compares the questions and experiences of his adoption with those of his adoptees. He asks himself is weather he is Dutch or Korean. Radstake feels Dutch, but is that because he suppressed his Korean side? In the beginning of the documentary Radstake focuses on his fellow adoptees but as his search progresses, his story gets more personal and is he even trying to find his biological mother. His search ends with a reunion of his arrival group. Exactly twenty-five years after arrival is the group of nine South-Korean adoptees reunited. But this time as adults.

Made in Korea: a one-way-ticket Seoul-Amsterdam is a personal journey of In-Soo Radstake in search for his true identity.