14/12/2012 - Dutch director Guido van Driel's feature debut, The Resurrection of a Bastard, will open the 42nd International Film Festival Rotterdam

The opening film of the 42nd International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has been announced. Dutch feature debut The Resurrection of a Bastard from Guido van Driel will open the festival on January 23. The film is also part of the Tiger Awards Competition.

...Bastard is the fiction debut of Van Driel, a painter and writer and illustrator of graphic novels as well as an occasional filmmaker. He previously made the documentary U spreekt met Frank Laufer, about the eponymous Dutch photographer who was obsessed with religion, and the 2007 TV film Groen is toch de mooiste kleur voor gras, which was produced by Topkapi Films and broadcast by VPRO.

Both Topkapi and VPRO also involved in the production of ...Bastard and are assisted by Belgians Menuet, The Netherlands Film Fund, The Flanders Audiovisual Fund and the MEDIA Programme all provided financial backing.

The Resurrection of a Bastard sees three stories converge under an ancient oak tree. The stories involve a Frisian farmer bent on revenge, an Amsterdam criminal who's miraculously survived an attempt on his life and an illegal immigrant with uncertain prospects.

The film stars Yorick van Wageningen (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Niels Arden Oplev
interview: Søren Stærmose
film profile], Winter in Wartime [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) as well as Goua Robert Grovogui, Juda Goslinga and actor Jeroen Willems, who was fêted at the most recent Netherlands Film Festival in September and who unexpectedly passed away on December 3.

Commented the director of the IFFR, Rutger Wolfson in a statement: "Filmmaker Guido van Driel deeply impresses with an original, bleak and nearly magical story that he shot in a compelling and controlled way."

The film will be distributed in the Netherlands by A-Film Distribution, though a release date has not yet been confirmed.