5 Minority Co-Productions Screen At Cannes

As mentioned before, there are now 5 minority co-productions premiering at Cannes this yar. First, there is Sergei Loznitsa's newest documentary Babi Yar. Context. The film screens in the Séance Speciale section of the Festival. The film is produced by ATOMS & VOID (The Netherlands) with the support of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Foundation (Ukraine). Based entirely on archive footage, the film reconstructs the events leading up to the massacre of 33,771 Jews in German occupied Kyiv in September 1941, while also looking at the aftermath of the tragedy. This is Loznitsa's seventh film at Cannes. With Donbass^* (2018), he won the Best Director Award in the Un Certain Regard competition. Besides that, A Gentle Creature^**(2017) was selected for the Palme d'Or competition. See NL spoke to Loznitsa about Babi Yar. Context.

Paul Verhoeven makes its comeback at Cannes, with Benedetta^* selected for the Palme d'Or competition. The period thriller premieres at the Festival and French theatres on July 9th. Benedetta is a French-Dutch production, minority co-produced by Amsterdam-based Topkapi Films. The film tells the story of a Benedetta, a young nun that joins an Italian convent. She falls in love with another woman and faces difficulties with this, while her community is being terrorized by the ongoing plague. The Dutch Job ter Burg, who also worked on Verhoeven’s film Elle (Cannes 2016), joins the director's team once again as the editor of Benedetta. We spoke to him about making Benedetta.

Furthermore, we have Submarine minority co-production Where Is Anne Frank?^* by Ari Folman that has been selected for Cannes Official Selection, as it will screen Out of Competition at the event. We follow Anne Frank’s imaginary friend Kitty, as she emerges from the famous diary and sets out on a journey through present-day Amsterdam to discover Anne’s fate. Sales are handled by Wild Bunch. Next, Feathers* by Egyptian filmmaker Omar El Zohairy and minority co-producer Keplerfilm premieres in Cannes, during Semaine de la Critique (Critics Week). We follow an Egyptian family, where an abusive patriarch turns into a chicken during a children's birthday party. Shocked at first, the family begins to realise that they are slowly set free of the experienced oppression. Read our interviews with Koji Nelissen of Keplerfilm and Submarine's Bruno Felix and Janneke van de Kerkhof.

And finally, Minority co-production I Am So Sorry^* by Zhao Liang and Muyi Film has been selected for Cinema for the Climate at the Cannes Festival. Zhao Liang made this new and challenging documentary to represent the ongoing dangers of nuclear energy. We go on a journey, from Chernobyl to Fukushima, where we can see the disasters created by nuclear power. Read our interview with Jia Zhao, co-producer from Muyi Film, here.

From The Netherlands To Cannes

Besides the fact that the See NL team is at the festival this year, we have also other Dutch representatives at the event. We have actor Gijs Naber, who stars in The Story Of My Wife by Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi. After many successes in the Netherlands and two Golden Calf Awards, Naber will be seen on the big screen at Cannes. Read our interview with him here.

Michael Sewandono and Raymond van der Kaaij will be present at Cannes as a part of the Cannes Atelier event, to further launch their new film project Mandai River. The story takes place in the violent world of Southeast Asia’s deforestation, where the lives of three people tragically entwine when they are overpowered by chaos and mystical forces beyond their control. They fail to take control of their own destiny. We spoke to Van Der Kaaij of Revolver Amsterdam about the project.

European Film Promotion announced that some of their Producers On The Move selection of 2021 will be present at the event. This includes, of course, our very own Iris Otten. After a great year, she gets another moment to exchange ideas, pitch new projects and meet new people. Read our interview with Otten here.

And there is more. Be sure to follow See NL for the latest Dutch news on Cannes. Meanwhile, take a look at our line-up and their screening times here.

For more information, visit the Cannes Film Festival website here.
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^*Film is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund.
^**Film is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund, Netherlands Production Incentive.