A European Christmas
On seven new films on the screen in the Netherlands this week, only one is a US production (the inevitable Disney Xmas blockbuster The Chronicles of Narnia, launched by Buena Vista on 170 screens); the others come for Europe which has definitely had a good year in the flat land. These new films will stay on the programme for a whole fortnight, since Dutch distributors will wait until the first Thursday of 2006 for the next releases.
1 More Film presents two national productions of a rather rare format for the big screen: Wereld Van Stilstand, Elbert van Strien's fourth short film (nominated this year for the Golden Calves), and Valse Wals, a sixty-minute musical drama directed by Mark de Cloe (presented at the end of the same ceremony). This first feature for the arthouse filmmaker whose work verges on the experimental is called Het Leven Uit Een Dag; this production involving Dutch Mountain Movies and Theorema Films has just been selected for the 35th Cinémart in Rotterdam.
Multitone Film distributes the Turkish feature Organize Isler, by Yilmaz Erdogan, on 13 copies, while Independent Films Nederland handle the latest big comedy, Keeping Mum [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Niall Johnson, an entirely British production (Azure Films and Tusk Productions) starring the hilarious actor Rowan Atkinson in the role of a pastor whose hot wife (Kristin Scott-Thomas) and boisterous kids give him a hard time. This very British comedy also features the American actor Patrick Swayze and the fantastic Maggie Smith. Another very 'Christmassy' film depicts the adventures of a dwarf called Plop: Plop En Het Vioolavontuur, a movie released last week in Belgium, where the director was born. Matthias Temmerman is already preparing a fifth episode (Plop in de Stad). Finally, Paradiso Filmed Entertainment is bringing to the screen (25 screens exactly) Luc Jacquet's March of the Penguins [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. One more time, Christmas rhymes with comedy and children's movie, but this time, the Netherlands is definitely putting the emphasis on European productions.
(Translated from French)
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