Knetter

Bonnie (Jesse Rinsma) is nine years old and lives with her mother Lis (Carice van Houten). Lis is a manic depressive or, as Bonnie puts it, stark raving mad. The girl has no problems with her mother's strange moods and does not understand that some people think she cannot take care of her, not even when Lis' help and stay, her mother, passes away. What Bonnie sometimes does have problems with is the fact that she does not have any brothers or sisters. Since she, despite the presence of her mother's new boyfriend Cees (Daan Schuurmans) considers an addition to the family more or less impossible, Lis suggests taking in a pet. She comes home with both their favourite animal: an elephant. Knetter is a cheerful, colourful youth film that deals with the grave subject of manic depression in a light-hearted and positive way. The film won several national and international film awards, including that for both best and most important film at the Montevideo International Film Festival for Children and Youth, the largest youth film festival in the world.