_{Derk-Jan Warrink}

This year’s Dutch nomination Derk-Jan Warrink follows in the footsteps of some of The Netherlands’ leading producers, such as Iris Otten (Juliet - Pupkin Film), Joram Willink of BIND Film, Ellen Havenith of PRPL, Harro van Staverden of Phanta Basta and Viking Film’s Marleen Slot.

Since 2016, Warrink has run production company Keplerfilm together with long-time friend Koji Nelissen.

“The films that I enjoy most are films that are one-of-a-kind and with a big heart,” Warrink will be telling potential future partners in Cannes. “Films that catch me off guard, with a unique tone of voice and with characters of flesh and blood. Films that make me laugh and cry; preferably at the same time. We believe these kinds of film often have the strength to reach a wider and international audience. Which has always been our main ambition with Keplerfilm: telling stories about real people, with inescapable struggles and genuine desires, while at the same time aiming to intellectually entertain a large and international audience.”

He points to some of his company’s films by way of illustration, such as Floor van der Meulen’s upcoming Tribeca world premiere tragicomedy Pink Moon**, the story of a young woman who hears from her 74-year-old father that he has had enough of life and wants it to come to an end. “Floor and scriptwriter Bastiaan Kroeger managed to take an extremely heavy and emotionally charged subject and to turn it into an accessible story about real people. They bring us close to the uncomfortable subject of death, whilst also showing that humour can still be a part of the heaviness. As a result, the audience is invited to both cry and laugh.”

In Buladó**, writer-director Eché Janga delivered a very personal story to the cinemas, a magical realism film set in a junkyard in Curaçao. “The strength of this film is that the story is very universal and therefore could reach a large and international audience, while at the same time it is very specific and rich in details that stem from the Caribbean Island of Curaçao (which is the background of Eché Janga). This combination makes the film both very authentic as well as easy to connect with.”

“Now that directors and writers that we think highly of return to us to make their next film, that is what I feel most successful about. I find it very important to create a strong and trusting relationship with the filmmakers, in which they feel safe and feel that they are taken seriously,” Warrink adds.

He further stresses how Dutch films can only benefit when developed and produced within an international context, and makes a plea “to let creativity flourish in the Dutch film infrastructure and give the filmmakers even more freedom - especially the ones that have already proven to be auteurs - so that more authentic and outstanding films come out of it.”

“Our focus is to put Dutch film auteurs on the map internationally,” he adds. “We had the honour to co-produce several high-quality, independent international feature films such as Semaine de la Critique 2021 Grand Prize winner Feathers* (Omar El Zohairy) and Semaine de la Critique 2022 premiere The Woodcutter’s Story** (Mikko Myllylahti). Already at an early stage of development and pre-production of our films, we want to be aware how to distribute internationally and work together with international partners, so that we can take into account how an international audience would look at the film.”

So what are Warrink’s expectations of Cannes 2022 and the EFP programme, and where will his priorities lie? “It is of course a huge honour to be selected as Producer on the Move, especially when I look at the list of producers who preceded me. I see it as an important chance to get to know some of the best producers from other countries that are in the same phase as we are in at Keplerfilm. I would be happy to get inspired by their stories, to get to know how they work and to learn from it,” he responds.

“Also, I will pitch the new project Killabees* of writer-director Eché Janga; a crime feature that is based on Curaçao and is – again – a very personal story of the director,” continues Warrink. “Killabees tells the story of 17-year-old Franklin. When he joins the older neighborhood boys in a robbery and gets arrested, he gets the possibility to sit out his sentence in Curaçao at the bee farm of his father, who he has never spoken to before. It is there that Franklin realizes that family is the one thing he has been looking for his whole life and – when he finds out that his father and new, younger sister are in danger – decides to fight for them. I look forward to meeting potential new partners for this project.”

For more information on Keplerfilm, visit their official webpage here. For more information on EFP's Producers on the Move programme, click here. To see the Dutch screening schedules of Cannes 2022, click here.
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*Film is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund
**Film is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund and Production Incentive