All articles by Robbert Blokland – Page 2

  • News

    First Dutch-South African co-production starts shooting

    2006-11-16T04:00:00Z

    Principal shooting started this week in Cape Town on Threes Anna's The Bird Can't Fly - the first Dutch-South African co-production.The $2.3m (Euros 2m) flm is a co-production between Dutch 24FPS Features, (lead producer Anton Scholten), South African IMG-films and Irish Borderline Productions. Investors have come from the Netherlands, including ...

  • News

    Dutch distributor A-Film expands into Belgium

    2006-10-23T00:00:00Z

    Dutch independentdistributor A-Film has plans to open a new office in Antwerp. The A-Film catalogue, including 1800 titles, willbe expanded to the Belgium market. General director Pim Hermeling appointed AnnSchepens as booker for theatrical sales.The first theatricalreleases include Mel Gibson's Apocalypto,Roger Michell's Venus, MichelGondry's Be Kind Rewind and PeterDuncan's Unfinished ...

  • News

    Verhoeven's Black Book selected as Dutch Oscar entry

    2006-08-23T14:01:00Z

    PaulVerhoeven's long-awaited Black Book has been named as the official Netherlands entry for the Best ForeignLanguage Film Academy Award.The filmwill have its world premiere Sept 1 at the 63rd Venice FilmFestival, where it is screening in competition.The$21.8m (£17m) wartime thriller is the most expensive predominantly Dutch-languageproduction ever made and tells ...

  • News

    Verhoeven on board for adaptation of Kneeling on a flowerbed of violets

    2006-05-12T13:42:00Z

    Paul Verhoevenhas taken on a new directing job in the Netherlands. Joining forces with the Dutch production company NLFilm & TV, Verhoeven will adapt the awarded Dutchnovel Kneeling on a flowerbed of violets (Knielenop een bed violen) forthe big screen.The project reunites Verhoeven and long-term collaborating writer Gerard Soeteman, who ...

  • News

    Dutch Film Fund grants $2.03m in production subsidies

    2006-02-28T11:40:00Z

    The Dutch Film Fund has granted production subsidies for five major new Dutch featurefilms. The total production subsidy amounts to $2.03m (Euros 1.7m.) The grantshave been awarded to four different production companies: IdtVFilm, 24FPS Features, Feature Partners and LagesteeFilm.IdtV Film received funds for two features, the first Unfinished Sky is ...

  • News

    San Fu Maltha sells his share holding in A-Film

    2006-02-23T13:20:00Z

    San Fu Maltha, co-founder along with PimHermeling of the Netherlands' biggest independent film distributor, A-Film is leaving the company.His majority share holding has been acquired by investment companies W2Media BV andVan Lanschot Bankers. A-Film commented that the majoritysale was "a strategic investment to continue and expand the exploitation of ourcatalogue ...

  • News

    Dutch film's local admissions up by almost 14%

    2005-12-20T11:52:00Z

    With 2.5million admissions for local features so far and the rest of December to go atthe box office, the Dutch films' box office for 2005 is up by at least 13.6%.In 2004, 2.2million tickets were sold for Dutch films in total. Children's and youth filmsform the most significant part of ...

  • News

    Academy rejects Dutch Oscar entry

    2005-12-15T00:00:00Z

    Dutch Oscar candidate, Bluebirdhas been rejected for this season's Academy Awards. The film was first made fortelevision and therefore does not qualify. Bluebirddid get its theatrical release, but only after its premiere on television. Producer Egmond Film tried topersuade the Academy to accept Bluebirdbut to no avail. The Netherlandswill now ...

  • News

    Independent distributor to make new year debut

    2005-10-31T04:00:00Z

    A newindependent distributor will begin operations in the Netherlands and Belgium fromJanuary.Dutchcompanies Filmworks and Inspire Pictures and the Belgium distributor Lumierehave joined forces to form Benelux Film Distributors. The companyis aiming for a wide range of independent film productions, from mainstream toarthouse. Amongstthe titles to be released in 2006 are ...

  • News

    Paradise, Guernsey emerge as best Dutch films

    2005-10-09T00:00:00Z

    Hani Abu-Assad's Paradise Now and Nanouk Leopold's Guernseydominatedthe Golden Calf awards for the best Dutch films, handed out on Friday night atthe Dutch Film festival.Internationally acclaimed Paradise Now received the Golden Calffor best picture and best editing, Guernsey took best directing(Nanouk Leopold), best actress (Maria Kraakman) and the Prize of ...

  • News

    Paradise reigns in Dutch market

    2005-09-21T00:00:00Z

    Multicultural comedy Schnitzel Paradise, a contemporary Romeo andJuliet style story, is riding high at the Dutch box office.The local picture has been at the top of the box office for the past twoweeks, beating international titles such as WeddingCrashers and Cinderella Man.In ten days, Schnitzel Paradise has grossed Euros 800,000 ...

  • News

    Verhoeven's Black Book cranks up in The Hague

    2005-08-29T04:00:00Z

    Paul Verhoeven's longawaited WWII thriller Blackbook starts shooting this week (Aug 31)in The Hague in the Netherlands.The Dutch/German/Englishlanguage production will shoot for 76 days in both The Hague and Germany'sStudio Babelsberg. The $20m wartime thriller isthe most expensive pre-dominantly Dutch language production ever made and tellsthe story of a German ...

  • News

    Arthouse trend boosts declining Dutch box office

    2005-07-12T14:45:00Z

    Arthouseand specialist film is proving the bright spot in a declining Dutch market.Second-quarterfigures for the box office in the Netherlands were down 17.5% year-on-year. Theyhad already slipped by 15% in Q1.But it's a mixed picture with Hollywood blockbusters underperforming comparedto last year, while independent titles are finding new audiences."Theinterest in ...

  • News

    Emily Watson embarks on pan-European Crusade

    2005-06-20T04:00:00Z

    Oscar nominated Dutchdirector Ben Sombogaart (Twin Sisters) has started shooting the Euros 12m Crusade In Jeans, which stars Emily Watson and Belgian actor JanDecleir.An English language adaptationof the popular Dutch novel by Theo Beckman, Crusade in Jeans tells the story of a young boy, Dolf, who isaccidentally transported to the ...

  • News

    Ring Two holds onto international chart lead

    2005-04-13T00:00:00Z

    Horrorsequel The Ring Two hung on to the lead on the international table atthe weekend. A number one $3m launch in Italy led the way among the eight newterritories which received it, which also included Russia with $1.8m.Frenchcomedy Brice De Nice was the best new opener taking the fourth place.Leading ...

  • News

    Euro, South African producers fan Smoke biopic

    2005-03-16T04:00:00Z

    Dutchproducer Riba Film, Germany's Pandora Film and South Africa's Do Productionshave partnered to finance the Euros 4.6m Smokeand Ochre, an English language biopic about the South African poet IngridJonker. Thefilm was presented at this year's project market Cinemart in Rotterdam. It willbe the first English language feature of successful Dutch ...

  • News

    RTL to bankroll Dutch film-makers

    2005-03-14T04:00:00Z

    Dutch broadcaster RTL Entertainment isexpanding its activities into film production. Senior head of programme acquisitionsDirk de Lille said he had reserved "a couple of million" Euros toco-produce around five film projects a year.They will primarily be Dutch filmprojects, but de Lille has not ruled out linking up with foreign partners ...

  • News

    Dutch wage two-pronged assault on Norwegian war satire

    2005-02-25T04:00:00Z

    Dutch producer 24fpsis working on a film version of Krig, the satirical Norwegian novel about a war betweenthe Netherlands and Norway that erupts after an incident during the Europeanskating championship.Producer AntonScholten is at the moment negotiating the project with some unnamed Norwegianproducers. Krig's estimated budget is Euros 3m. No director ...

  • News

    Greenaway to write, direct Rembrandt project

    2005-02-09T04:00:00Z

    Peter Greenaway iswriting and will direct a film about Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn. Thefilm, titled Nightwatching, is initiated by Dutch Kasander Film Companyand is due to be released next May (2006) to co-incide with the 400th anniversary ofthe famous painter. The film is based onthe painting of The Nightwatch, ...

  • News

    NETHERLANDS 8 February

    2005-02-08T00:00:00Z

    Dutch actioner VetHard!, a remake of Danish 2002 hit film Old Men In New Cars,achieved an impressive second place in the local chart with Euros 233,000 on 79screens. 25-Year old debutdirector Tim Oliehoek has proven himself quite a media personality for the lastfew weeks, appearing extensively in all possible papers, ...