_{Mascot by Remy van Heugten}

Teenager Jerry is ostensibly a good kid who loves his mum and works with her in a centre for the mentally impaired. But he has a dark side, which has been formed by the cruel circumstances of his upbringing. He has had a deformed mouth since birth which means that he must undergo ongoing and complicated dental surgery. Such was his disfigurement that his estranged father long ago rejected him.

However, his mother Abbey loves and protects him and has always held him close because of this disfigurement. She is in her early forties and is both attractive and attracted to potential suitors. But Jerry doesn't want any of this. He wants to be alpha within his domestic domain and to keep the household intact, just him, his mum and younger sister Emine. It doesn't help either that Abbey is tactile and flirtatious, which confuses a young lad whose adolescent hormones are raging.

Another feature of Jerry’s life is his need to fight, which he does when rival football supporters meet on neutral turf during officially arranged brawls.

Little by little, however, matters spiral out of control for Jerry after Abbey loses her job and, to secure the family’s security, dates Joost, a local councillor. Then Jerry is dismissed from the fight club for breaking the hallowed rule of non-retaliation. He also reveals an inner tendency towards racism at a public meeting hosted by Joost, before embarking upon a violent odyssey that derives from his desperation to assert his status as top male.

The hard-hitting film is, Van Heugten points out, about dysfunctionality within the family set-up. “I always question, when you are growing up, what it must be like if you don't feel safe,” he comments. “And if you can't really share your feelings with anyone. I saw this in dysfunctional families quite closely when I was growing up. I have seen kids turn bad.”

Van Heugten himself was raised in a working class area, and shared a similar dental affliction to his character Jerry. “It ate my confidence and I was angry, and I fought just to get rid of that anger,” the director says, but he had two loving and supportive parents who helped him throughout. “I've seen friends with, on the surface, lesser problems, but living in a much more toxic home environment.” Such as Jerry’s home life with his single parent mother and sister.

“Abbey raised him very closely - too closely - and it creates all these desires and mistrust of other people,” says Van Heugten of his young protagonist. “So instead of it being a coming-of age-story, something we all hope for, it's the exact opposite.” Jerry seeks to maintain the status quo within the three-way family unity, but he does so despite the desires and motivations of his mother and sister. And tragedy subsequently ensues.

Young, angel-faced actor Liam Jeans plays the boy. Jeans was a national champion boxer and therefore understood the physical demands that the role required. “He looks, he watches other people so well. He feels what other people think and that makes him a great actor, I think, even though it's his first acting part,” says Van Heugten. The role of Jerry’s mother Abbey is played by Maartje Remmers (2016 Golden Calf nominee for Stop Acting Now*), while the much sought after Flemish actor Geert van Rampelberg puts in a solid cameo appearance as Jerry’s estranged father Willem.

After IFFR, the film will be released in The Netherlands by Gusto Entertainment. It was initially ready in 2021 but cinema closures across the country put paid to a meaningful release strategy. That said, director Van Heugten believes that Mascot has even greater poignancy post-Covid.

“I feel it's more relevant because the isolation and frustration that young people felt has created so much trouble. We have a lot of articles at the moment in The Netherlands saying that extreme violence among young people is increasing. During Covid, being locked up and living life online certainly didn’t help,” Van Heugten ends.

Mascot is produced by BIND. The film is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund and Film Production Incentive.

For a full overview of all Dutch films screening at IFFR 2023, click here.
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*Film is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund