Leading international sellers have attended the Dutch film showcase NLWave in Utrecht this week, surveying the 35 new projects being pitched or presented as works in progress.
Only a handful of companies regularly sell Dutch films in the international marketplace. One of the most prominent is Montreal-based Attraction Distribution, whose president, Xiaojuan Zhou, is in Utrecht scouting potential pick-ups. She has already taken world sales rights on family feature Scrumple, a work in progress produced by Judy Tossell for Lemming Film.
“It’s a film for very young kids, very delightful,” she says of her latest Dutch pick-up, an adaptation of Annie MG Schmidt’s story about the naughty heroine, Scrumple, and her pet dog, Splotch. Splendid Film is on board as Dutch distributor.
Attraction has also recently taken sales rights on another Dutch title, Hanneke And Fiet, produced by NL Film and directed by Mischa Kamp from a Tamara Bos screenplay about a Jewish girl hiding with a Dutch family during the Second World War. This is due for delivery in 2027.
Zhou’s experience with Dutch films stretches back to the late 1990s, when she began working regularly with Bos Bros, notably on 2001 hit family film Minoes, as well as with companies like Lemming and NL Films, carving out a space handling Dutch family films in the process.
“They are successful despite their language and despite their unknown cast,” the Attraction executive suggests of her Dutch catalogue.
Attraction remains a go-to partner for Dutch producers and has done solid business with Dutch family fare for over two decades. “It is a huge advantage to the producers that Attraction is based in Canada,” Zhou says of the potential access the company provides to the North American market.
“We are probably the sales agent that has managed to sell the biggest number of Dutch and European live action films into the US market for meaningful distribution.”
Although Incredible Film’s Danielle Raaphorst has not been in Utrecht. her company concentrates on Dutch films and the occasional Flemish title).
“We decided to stay in this niche because there are so many international sales agents but not that many sales agents of Dutch films,” she says.
Since it launched in 2009, Incredible Films has enjoyed success over the last decade with films including historical action drama Redbad (2018) - which sold to North America (Epic Pictures) as well as to several European and Asian territories, Dick Maas’s escaped lion film, Prey, which was given a 4,000-screen release in China, and 2018 music drama The Conductor.
Its slate includes the comedy drama Champagne, for which it has just closed theatrical deals with Autoral Filmes (Brazil) and Happy Entertainment (Germany).
Incredible and Attraction handle the more obviously commercial types of Dutch films. International sales companies are more interested in Dutch arthouse titles. At last year’s NLWave, WT Films acquired Toronto premiere, In Alaska, The Party Film Sales took Sven Bresser’s Reedland, Paradise City Sales boarded Mees Peijnenburg’s Berlinale A Family, M-Appeal is selling Muriel d’Ansembourg’sTruly Naked and Taskovski took Dutch Oscar entryPaikar.
Some of the NLWave 2026 titles have also been acquired for sales: Denmark’s Level K is handling Martijn de Jong’s family film Movies Showinng Nowhere, produced by Family Affairs Films, and has also picked up Margien Rogaar’s family film Stardust. Further deals are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
Incredible Film’s Raaphorst talks of the pragmatism needed to sell Dutch films in the market. “We all know that it is a very difficult market. If nobody buys these films because the MGs are too high, they remain on the shelf,” she warns. “For me, it’s important when you are working with a distributor and you know they are having difficult times as well, you have to be creative to make a success.”
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