Greenaway, Beumer and Antoniak receive funding in latest round

by Boyd van Hoeij

19/07/2012 - On Tuesday (July 17), the Netherlands Film Fund announced the names of five features eligible for production aid and two that received development aid.

The latest project of renegade director Peter Greenaway (photo), who has made a habit of shooting his films in the Netherlands, received the highest production support: €450,000 was awarded to his Eisenstein in Guanajuato, which is described as a love story. It will be produced by Submarine and co-produced by Fu Works and Belgian outfit Climax Films.

The children’s feature Oorlogsgeheimen (War Secrets), based on the book by author Jacques Vriens and directed by Dennis Bots, received €400,000, as did another another adaptation of a children’s novel: Kidnep, directed by Anna van der Heide. The screenplay for both was written by Karen van Holst Pellekaan, who also wrote the original book that the latter film is based on.

Oorlogsgeheimen will be produced by Rinkel Film Productions, in association with Bijker Film & TV, while Kidnep will be produced by Topkapi in co-production with The Storytellers Film & TV.

The romantic comedy Soof, inspired by a column series by Sylvia Witteman, will receive €300,000 in production support. Sisters Antoinette and Marjolein Beumer will direct and write the screenplay, respectively, for this KeyFilm production that will be co-produced by Millstreet Films.

The latest project from the prolific Paula van der Oest, Lucia de B. will receive €350.000 from Netherlands Film Fund. The film, based on a famous criminal case in the Netherlands that saw an innocent nurse locked away for years on charges of multiple killings, will also be produced by Rinkel Film.

Two projects received development support. The latest film of Urszula Antoniak, Nude Area, tells the story of two Dutch and Moroccan teenage girls that fall in love. The film received €40,000 and will be produced by Topkapi Films.

The first Dutch-language film of director Menno Meyjes, The Dinner (see news), received €15,000. Eyeworks Film & TV Drama is attached as a producer for this adaptation of Herman Koch’s bestseller.