19/09/2024 - The Dutch-Belgian drama film, billed as being a deeply personal and intimate portrait of a family, will enter production next month

Dutch helmer Mees Peijnenburg is attached to A Family, a brand-new drama film billed as “a personal and intimate portrait of a family”, set to enter production in October. The news was first reported by Variety.

Peijnenburg’s previous credits include We Will Never Be Royals, crowned Best TV Drama at the Dutch TV Beelden Awards, and Paradise Drifters [+see also:
trailer
interview: Bilal Wahib
film profile], screened in the Generation strand of the Berlinale in 2020.

In detail, the plot of A Family revolves around two teenagers who are trying, each in their own way, to keep their heads above water while their parents’ marriage dissolves into a messy divorce. A Family is narrated from the perspective of the children.

Eli, aged 14, and Nina, aged 16, seem to be leading carefree lives. Eli is on the competitive swimming team, and Nina is in love with her girlfriend Steffie. The divorce of their parents, Maria and Jacob, leaves them torn between their mother and father. As parental rights are battled out and arguments rage, Eli and Nina are forced to make choices they do not want to make. Both engulfed in their own grief, Eli and Nina drift further and further apart. Until they realise they are both looking for the same love, recognition and comfort.

The script is penned by Bastiaan Kroeger (Pink Moon [+see also:
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interview: Floor van der Meulen
film profile]) and Peijnenburg. Jasper Wolf (Golda [+see also:
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Zooming in on the movie, the director said: “This project is very personal and important to me. For a very long time, I’ve wanted to make a film about a family going through divorce. I waited years for the right moment, and now, that moment has come. A Family is a film about resilience, heartache, loneliness, unconditional love and, above all, emotional safety. I consider myself very fortunate to be able to create A Family with such a formidable cast and crew.”

Van Houten added: “The themes of A Family and the emotional complexities of the children’s characters resonated deeply with me, so when Mees showed me his vision of what he wanted this film to be, it was an easy ‘yes’.”

A Family is being produced by Iris Otten and Nathalie van der Burg for Juliet at Pupkin (Netherlands), in co-production with Michiel and Lukas Dhont’s Belgian outfit The Reunion (Girl [+see also:
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interview: Lukas Dhont
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interview: Eden Dambrine
interview: Lukas Dhont
interview: Lukas Dhont
film profile]) and VPRO Broadcast. It has received backing from the Netherlands Film Fund, the Netherlands Film Production Incentive, CoBO, the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), Eurimages, the Belgian Tax Shelter and the Flanders Tax Shelter.

Cinéart is in charge of its distribution in the Benelux.