Dutch works bound for Venice
Dutch documentary Kabul, Between Prayers and the immersive productions The Great Orator and Ancestors have been selected for the 82nd Venice International Film Festival. More talent from the Netherlands is also present across different festival sections where several Dutch co-productions are presented.
Still: The Great Orator - Daniel Ernst
Independent pioneering VR creator Daniël Ernst’s latest work The Great Orator* will world premiere in Venice Immersive Competition. Renowned for blending the boundaries of film and video games, Ernst explores the liminal space between reality and the virtual. Ernst earned international recognition with The Shoebox Diorama (2013 - present), a critically acclaimed series of interactive VR dioramas inviting audiences to inhabit carefully crafted story worlds. In 2019, he was awarded a Golden Calf at the Netherland’s national film awards, for his VR opera Die Fernweh Oper.
The Great Orator, immerses visitors in a non-linear AI-driven universe, where they are guided by a former TV medium and become the co-author of memory and meaning. The AI is used exclusively to generate additional orations, based on current affairs and steered by the poetic work of Dutch poet Thomas Möhlmann. The storyworld itself is entirely conceived, designed, and built by human creators.
Two other VR works that are minority co-produced with the Netherlands are also celebrating their world premieres in the Immersive Competition: A Long Goodbye* by Kate Voet and Victor Maes (co-produced by Valk Productions) and Mirage by Netherlands-based creators Naima Karim and Aleena Hanif.
Ancestors* by Steye Hallema and produced by The Smartphone Orchestra will be presented on Venice’s immersive island as part of the selection of Best of Experiences. The immersive and interactive group experience world premiered at IDFA Doclab and has been presented at various other prestigious festivals since, including SXSW. It also won the Best of Tech Award at Filmgate Interactive (Miami) and Breakthrough in Storytelling Award of Columbia Digital Storytelling Lab.
Ancestors offers participants a unique journey into the future, where they explore how today’s choices shape the world for the next six generations. Using AI and guided by their smartphone, people are connected to others in unexpected ways to discover possible futures and face big questions about climate, techonology and society.
Kabul, Between Prayers, written and directed by Aboozar Amini, will celebrate its world premiere in the official selection of the festival Out of Competition. The documentary is produced by Silk Road Film Salon (NL) in co-production with Clin d’Oeil Films (BE) and Mediawan are handling international sales.
Kabul, Between Prayers is Amini’s second feature-length doc. His debut film Kabul, City in the Wind* world premiered in 2018 as official opening film at IDFA where it won the Best First Appearance Award.
Two Dutch minority co-productions are premiering on the Lido Out of Competition as well. Lucrecia Martel’s documentary Landmarks*, co-produced by Lemming Film, and French/Dutch/German historical drama series Etty by Hagai Levi. Etty is minority co-produced by Topkapi Films and is set in World War II-era Amsterdam. Based on true events it tells the story of Jewish author Etty Hillesum during Nazi occupation. Filmed on location in Amsterdam and predominantly in Dutch, the series showcases strong Dutch involvement.
Unavailable by Ukranian director Kyrylo Zemlyanyi, co-produced by Cinesud, is selected for Orizzonti and will compete for the Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film.
In addition, the minority co-production Memory* by Vladlena Sandu has been selected as the opening film of the Venice Giornate degli Autori (Venice Days) parallel programme. The film is co-produced by Revolver.
Lastly, several Dutch (co-)produced projects in development are selected for the Venice Production Bridge:
Venice Gap-Financing Market – Feature Films:
Emerald Butterfly* – dir. Martin Koolhoven, prod. N279 Entertainment
Four Seasons in Java* – dir. by Kamila Andini, NL co-prod. Lemming Film
Venice Gap-Financing Market – Immersive Projects:
Lady Lazarus* – dirs. Willemiek Kluijfhout & Nienke Huitenga Broeren, prod. Studio ZZZAP
O* – dir. Adriaan Lokman, prod. Lucid Realities
The Opposite of Being – dir. Celine Daemen, prod. Studio Nergens
Improv Music Collective DNA? AND? – dirs. Corine Meijers and Mark Meeuwenoord, prod. Studio Biarritz
Biennale College Cinema – Immersive:
Read more about the Venice International Film Festival here.
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*film supported by the Netherlands Film Fund
**supported by the Netherlands Film Fund and Netherlands Production Incentive