Boorsma brothers shoot Milo

by Naman Ramachandran

14/06/2011 - Principal photography is underway for Irish-Dutch co-production Milo, a coming of age film directed by brothers Berend and Roel Boorsma who co-wrote the script with Heather Imani.

Milo tells the story of a 10-year-old boy, played by debutant Lorcan Bonner, who is a social outcast because of excessive hair growth all over his face and body due to a skin condition. Other cast includes Graham Stewart (Hunger [trailer, film focus]), Jer O’Leary (In America), Laura Vasiliu (4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days [trailer, film focus]), Charlotte Bradley (About Adam) and Dolf de Vries (Black Book [trailer]).

David Collins and Martina Niland from Samson Films (Once [trailer]) and San Fu Maltha of Fu Works in the Netherlands and A Private View in Belgium are producing, with funding by the Irish Film Board (IFB), The Netherlands Film Fund and the Matching Fund. Benelux Film Distributors will release the film in Dutch cinemas in early 2012.

Meanwhile, another Danish-Irish co-production, Flowers of Desire, will commence a seven-week shoot across Irish locations from July 4.

Written by Peter Birro (We Can Be Heroes!) and Simon Staho (Warriors of Love) who will also direct, the Danish-language film follows a former dancer played by Ulrich Thomsen (In A Better World [trailer]) who returns to his childhood home to attend his mother's funeral where he meets an old flame, played by Sonja Richter (Bad Faith [trailer]), who is trapped in an unhappy marriage.

The film is produced by Jonas Frederikssen and co-produced by Subotica’s Tristan Orpen Lynch and Aoife O’Sullivan and Anagram's Martin Persson. The IFB is a funder and executive producers include Peter Aalbeek Jensen (Dancer in the Dark) and Peter Garde (Dogville [trailer]) of Zentropa.