Dutch films at the Berlinale 2024
Getting set for eleven days in February at one of the most important events in the annual calendar
A variety of films from the Netherlands are lined up and ready to go for this years Berlin International Film Festival.
Still: Fox and Hare Save the Forest - Mascha Hablerstad
We are kicking the line-up from the lowlands off with a world premiere in the Generation Kplus Competition. Mascha Halberstad returns to Berlin to present her new animated feature Fox and Hare Save the Forest** (prod. Submarine, sales Urban Distribution International). She is hoping to gain just as much success as in 2022 with her comedic stopmotion feast Oink*. SEE NL spoke to Halberstad about her latest work, before heading to the German capital.
Zuza Banasińska's Grandmamauntsistercat will celebrate its international premiere in the Forum Expanded section, straight after world premiering at IFFR. The Netherlands-based Polish director talked to SEE NL about the short film which repurposes didactic materials from the communist era to form an emotive portrait of a multispecies matriarchal family seeking freedom and empowerment.
Two Dutch shorts are set to be shown in the Berlinale Shorts competition. First up is City of Poets (prod. near/by film) by Sara Rajaei, which will have its world premiere. The Rotterdam-based filmmaker chatted with us about her magical realist short film, shot through with melancholy as it reflects on the inequities suffered by women. Second is Preoperational Model (prod. Video Power) from Dutch-based Swedish director Philip Ullman. They also discussed their animated short film with SEE NL in which an anthropomorphic princess and her maid prepare for a new day in the royal court.
Lastly, three Dutch minority co-productions are part of the Berlinale: Above the Dust** (Lemming Film, sales The Match Factory) by Wang Xiaoshuai, Young Hearts (Family Affair Films) by Anthony Schatteman - both in Generation Kplus - and The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder by Inadelso Cossa (BALDR Film) in Forum Expanded.
The 74th Berlin International Film Festival takes place on February 15 - February 25. Find the complete Dutch line-up and schedules here. Or discover Berlinale on https://www.berlinale.de/en/home.
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*Film is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund