Frieda Barnhard in Melk

Over the past five years or so Frieda Barnhard has established herself as one of the brightest stars in the Dutch acting firmament. 

In her cinema work, she regularly works with newcomers (whose films just happen to get themselves selected for A-festivals, such as Stefanie Kolk, Zara Dwinger or Guido Coppis, see below) or with the most established Dutch directors, such as the legendary Alex van Warmerdam (Nr. 10**). 

On television she has starred in the high-profile series Dag & Nacht** (NPO, 2023), Bestseller Boy** (NPO, 2022), Ares (Netflix, 2020) and Judas (Videoland, 2019). Meanwhile she is a mainstay of Dutch theatre, and has played lead roles in Age of Rage (2019) and Vrijdag (2021).

At IFFR 2024, she stars in two films; Bite* by Guido Coppis, in which she plays a psychotic nurse, and Melk** (by Stefanie Kolk) about a mother who wants to share the excess milk she continues to produce following the stillbirth of her child. (In 2023 Barnhard also starred as the cool but dangerous - and psychologically unhinged - Karina in Zara Dwinger’s audacious mother/daughter caper Kiddo**, selected for Berlinale Generation).

The characters Barnhard plays seem to operate at the margins of society, living a parallel, sometimes dangerous, existence which is highly unnerving for the folks she encounters. It is a characterisation at odds with her own personality, she underlines.

“I'm not very outspoken or extravagant as such, but I like to play characters that are out of my comfort zone. So if I don't immediately feel this is me, I know that it can be me, and then I like to find a way to be it.”

“I'm very lucky because I get the chance to audition for those kind of characters, but it's also the characters and the kind of roles that I like the most actually,” she adds. “I try to choose roles that are new or peculiar, or a little strange.”

Such as the character of nurse Lisa in Bite who doesn’t seem to have a mental filter to prevent her from acting out whichever strange or violent fantasies she pleases. In the film she befriends an equally tortured man, but it is not clear whether she will be his salvation or his damnation.

“What people tell me all the time is that I have a sort of strength as well as a vulnerability,” Barnhard describes her qualities. Bite director Guido Coppis sees her as “unreadable,” and therefore the perfect canvas on which to paint a study of descent into madness. 

Barnhard adds how, “I don't think Lisa realizes herself that she's psychotic. I think she's just living her life being a nurse and being helpful, and then suddenly she finds something and realises, ‘I can do those bad things as well. Let's try it.’”

In Melk, directed by Stefanie Kolk, she plays the character of Robin for whom the thought of discarding the milk that she expresses is deeply upsetting, and which intensifies her sense of grief after the stillbirth. And so, despite many hurdles put in her way, she decides to donate her milk, a decision which brings its own emotional complications…as well as a very crowded freezer.

“When I read the script I thought it was very beautiful,” says Barnhard of the film. “I really trust Stefanie. I think she's a great director and is very good at choosing one specific element of life which a lot of people don't seem to acknowledge or recognise, and then she makes a great film out of it.” 

For the film, Barnhard explains how she had to wear a silicone chest that would express milk, which she found “super strange” in that it began to feel like part of her body, and therefore intensified the role for her. One fear that she had was that, as so many scenes were shot without dialogue or even without another actor, she found it difficult to gauge the effectiveness of her performance. “Normally when I'm happy with a day or with a scene, it's because there's a dialogue with another actor and you surprise each other, and something comes out of that you didn't expect beforehand.” 

Bite will world premiere at IFFR while Melk receives its Dutch premiere after world-premiering at Venice 2023. Both films will be released in The Netherlands in early Spring.

For Barnhard, the directing talent behind the two films are representative of a potentially golden future for Dutch feature-making. She adds Kiddo director Zara Dwinger to the mix.

“I think good things are happening at the moment. A lot of new people are coming through with different perspectives and different ideas and a real heart for cinema. The industry is becoming a lot more interesting and not so mainstream, and so I’m very hopeful for the future,” she ends. 

Bite is produced by and sales are handled by The Rogues. Melk is produced by Lemming Film, sales handled by Bendita Film Sales.

IFFR takes place on January 25 - February 4, find the Dutch line-up here. Or discover IFFR on https://iffr.com/en.

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*Film is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund
**Film is supported by the Production Incentive