Last year the Netherlands Film Festival spotlighted a series of films by talented and innovative Dutch auteurs that were selected for some of the leading international festivals but which remain relatively unknown among domestic audiences. A public debate was held to gauge the perception of Dutch Cinema abroad. A selected group of international festival programmers, sales agents and film journalists looked at the positioning of Dutch cinema within the global marketplace and assessed the international marketability of the new wave of Dutch film auteurs.
The debate, held in the Festival Pavilion, was moderated by the Binger Filmlab's Artistic Director Marten Rabarts and co-hosted by Holland Film's Claudia Landsberger. Panellists included a.o. Jan Temmerman (Belgian newspaper De Morgen), Helen Loveridge (Meridiana Films, London), Benjamin Mirguet (Quinzaine des Realisateurs), Jeff Nuyts (Intra Movies), Pierre Rissient (a.o. Telluride Film Festival), Geoffrey Macnab (Screen International) and Chris Paton (Head of Acquisition Fortissimo Films).
The filmmakers featured within the Dutch Angle programme were Nanouk Leopold, Mijke de Jong, Simone van Dusseldorp, Eugenie Jansen, Esther Rots, David Verbeek, David Lammers and Fow Pyng Hu. All presented their work during the festival. To complement this programme de Volkskrant presented, in association with A-Film and the Netherlands Film Festival, a dvd box containing five Dutch Angle films; NORTHERN LIGHT by David Lammers, GUERNSEY by Nanouk Leopold, CAN GO THROUGH SKIN by Esther Rots, DEEP by Simone van Dusseldorp and KATIA'S SISTER by Mijke de Jong.
The festival uses the Dutch Angle label to describe the film authors whose films are characterised by a particular intensity - films in which the drama is not played out on screen, but is nevertheless tangible between the lines. The label may also be used in the future to distinguish new work by Dutch author filmmakers.
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