email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

PRODUCTION / FINANCEMENT Pays-Bas / Belgique / Estonie

EXCLUSIF : Clip d'Idyllic d'Aaron Rookus, sélectionné à l'IFFR

par 

- Le film plein d'humour, porteur d'un message positif sur la vie, décrit trois générations d'une même famille hollandaise qui interrogent leurs vies et leurs relations avec les autres

EXCLUSIF : Clip d'Idyllic d'Aaron Rookus, sélectionné à l'IFFR
Hadewych Minis (à gauche) et Titus Theunissen dans Idyllic (© Studio Ruba)

Cet article est disponible en anglais.

Aaron Rookus’s debut feature, Idyllic [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film
]
, is set to world-premiere in the Big Screen competition of this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR, 30 January-9 February). The pic is billed by the creative team as “a life-affirming and humorous film that weaves together the stories of several generations of a somewhat dysfunctional family”.

In it, “each family member, with their unique quirks and aspirations, embarks on a heartfelt quest for the elusive perfect fulfilment of life”. In detail, the plot follows a middle-aged man who struggles to find his place in the dating scene after his recent coming-out, while his opera-diva sister faces a terminal diagnosis and reflects on the different paths she could have taken. Their grandmother, tired of life, seeks an end that no one will help her with, while a ten-year-old boy races to fulfil his bucket list, believing his days are numbered.

(L'article continue plus bas - Inf. publicitaire)
focusfeatures_conclave_Internal_Cathy

Key cast members are Hadewych Minis, Eelco Smits, Beppie Melissen and Nabil Mallat. The technical crew includes DoP Emo Weemhof, editor David Verdurme, production designer Kurt Rigolle, costume designer Isabel van Renterghem and composer Sten Šeripov.

Born in 1983, Rookus is a Dutch filmmaker and lecturer at the Utrecht University of the Arts, from which he graduated in 2008. His early career highlights include award-winning shorts such as Wednesdays (2012) and A Good Life (2015). He has also helmed episodes of acclaimed TV shows such as Godforsaken (2017) and Towers of Power (2018). His debut feature, Goodbye Stranger, was released in 2022.

“With this film, I want to argue that life largely happens to you, and that pain and sorrow provide balance and meaning. They put things into perspective. If you embrace everything that goes beyond the grand plan you’ve set up for yourself, it makes you a more complete and more satisfied person. The film and its struggling characters don’t provide an exact guide to that piece of the heart (that would be something!), but hopefully, they will bring the viewer some comfort and a sobering smile in their own quest,” says Rookus in his director’s statement.

Idyllic is being produced by Amsterdam-based Studio Ruba together with Belgium’s Polar Bear and Estonia’s Allfilm. It received backing from the Netherlands Film Fund, the Netherlands Production Incentive, BNNVARA, the CoBO Fund, Creative Europe – MEDIA, the Estonian Film Institute, the Flanders Film Fund and the Belgian Tax Shelter. The producers are Maarten van der Ven and Layla Meijman, with Philip Harthoorn serving as the line producer, and Xavier Rombaut, Ivo Felt and Robert Kievit as the co-producers. Denmark’s LevelK is selling the feature worldwide, whilst Paradiso Film is in charge of its Benelux distribution.

Check out our exclusive clip below:

(Traduit de l'anglais)

Vous avez aimé cet article ? Abonnez-vous à notre newsletter et recevez plus d'articles comme celui-ci, directement dans votre boîte mail.

Privacy Policy