Animated Features from the Netherlands

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AnimAted FeAtures

From the netherlAnds

spring 2014

ripple T

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introduCtion

The Netherlands has a strong tradition in high quality animated shorts, and has produced animators

who have won many international prizes including three Academy Awards*. But despite the success of

Dutch shorts, few animated features have been produced out of the Netherlands.

In 2009, the Netherlands Film Fund started a scheme to actively stimulate the production of animated

features. The first result was Miffy the Movie, which was released in 2013 and winning the Best Dutch

Childrens’ Film Prize at the world-renowned Cinekid festival in Amsterdam. In 2014 two more animated

features will be released: Pim & Pom The Big Adventure and Tripple Trouble. These two films were

animated entirely (and simultaneously) in two Dutch studios, clearly demonstrating the ability of the

domestic animation industry to adapt to new demands.

This booklet presents the animated feature projects currently both in production and development

within the Netherlands. If you are interested in co-producing an animated feature with the Netherlands,

you will find it interesting to know that a Film Production Incentive for international co-productions is

expected to become operational during 2014.

Kindly read on…

The Netherlands Film Fund,

Doreen Boonekamp, CEO

Peter Lindhout, Animated Film Consultant

* Co Hoedeman with The Sand Castle in 1977, Børge Ring with Anna and Bella in 1985 and Michael Dudok de Wit with Father and Daughter in 2000

onc

ept art: B

enjamin B

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pim & pom,

the Big AdVenture

ORIGINAL TITLE: PIM & POM, HET GROTE AVONTUUR

The friendship between the impulsive and adventurous

Pim and the more cautious Pom is put to the test when

they are faced with trying to find their way home.

director: Gioia Smid

screenwriter: Fiona van Heemstra Co-writer: Tingue Dongelmans

producers: Michiel de Rooij and Sabine Veenendaal production company: Flinck Film

Co-producer: Pim & Pom bv

Financers: The Netherlands Film Fund, Fiep Amsterdam, Inspire

Pictures, Attraction Distribution, Nickelodeon, SNS REAAL Fonds

Animation technique: Flash 2D/ Full HD duration: 70 min.

release: 9 April 2014 sales: Attraction Distribution

For more than ten years, Gioia Smid has been the custodian of Fiep Westendorp’s work in her role as artistic director of the Fiep Amsterdam company. She has written several books about Fiep Westendorp and organised many exhibitions of her work, both nationally and internationally. She was also responsible for the direction of the 52 episodes of the Pim & Pom animated series and took on the same role for the film.

other essential crew:

Art-director/ lead animator: Marieke van Middelkoop Assistant director: Hans Walther

music: Alex Debicki songs: Joren van der Voort sound design: Arno Peeters

Contact:

Gioia Smid +31 (0)20-4714637 Gioia@fiepwestendorp.nl www.pimenpomdefilm.nl

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lAst hiJACK

A narrative and documentary journey into the world of

one Somali Pirate - Mohamed - exploring how and why

he came to live such a brutal and dangerous existence.

Animated re-enactments explore Mohamed’s memories,

dreams and fears from his point of view while raw

documentary footage portrays the harsh and complex

reality of Mohamed’s everyday life.

directors: Tommy Pallotta and Femke Wolting producers: Bruno Felix and Femke Wolting production company: Submarine

Co-producers: Still Films (IE), Razor Film (DE), Savage Film (BE),

IKON, Jamal Media and ZDF (DE)

Financers: The Netherlands Film Fund, Irish Film Board, VAF,

CoBO, Media Fund, Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen

Animation technique: live-action and 3D animation with

oil-Painted textures and backdrops

duration: 83 min. release: 2014

sales: The Match Factory

Tommy Pallotta produced Richard Linklater’s award-winning feature film Waking Life and A

Scanner Darkly. Tommy directed the Emmy nominated Collapsus, combining interactivity with animation, fiction, documentary and social media. Femke Wolting produced Peter Greenaway’s feature

Rembrandt’s J’Accuse, documentaries like My

Second Life - shot inside a virtual world – and Meet

the Fokkens – about the twin prostitutes Fokkens - and interactive productions such as Collapsus and

The Art of Pho.

director of photography: Ahmed Farah editor: Edgar Burcksen

A.C.E Animation supervisor: Gavin Kelly paintings and visual

development: Hisko Hulsing lead animator: Sam Boyd Contact:

Yaniv Wolf

+31 (0)20-3301226 yaniv@submarine.nl www.submarine.nl

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tripple trouBle

ORIGINAL TITLE: TRIPPEL TRAPPEL

A team of three pets; a playful ferret, a sweet canary bird

and a know-it-all stick insect, decide to ask Saint Nicolas

presents for their animal friends and themselves. The

journey is filled with adventures and their friendship is

severely tested. Most of all, ferret Fred has to choose

between his love for toys and his friends. In the end they

meet Saint Nicolas and bring home the presents in a

spectacular way.

directors: Albert ‘t Hooft and Paco Vink

screenwriters: Arnoud Rijken and Michiel Snijders producers: Arnoud Rijken and Michiel Snijders production company: il Luster

Co-producer: ViviFilm (BE)

Financers: The Netherlands Film Fund, KRO, KetNet, A-Film, KFD Animation technique: 2d digital drawn animation

duration: 65 min. release: October 2014

Albert `t Hooft and Paco Vink work together in their Anikey Studio in The Hague. They graduated in 2005 from the Willem de Kooning Academy and haven’t had one quiet day since. They have been working on several commissioned works for networks and independent shorts. Their shorts Paul

and the Dragon, Little Quentin and Fallin’ Floyd won several awards at different festivals. Currently they are working on the first original Dutch 2d animated feature since 1983. Contact: Michiel Snijders +31 (0)30-2400768 michiel@illuster.nl www.illuster.nl / www.trippeltrappel.nl

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CAFArd

1914. While Jean Mordant is winning the title of Wrestling

Champion of the World, back home in Ostend his daughter

Mimi is raped by German soldiers. Jean swears to avenge

her and enrolls in the prestigious ACM, the first ever

armored car division. Little does he know he is embarking

on a dramatic odyssey which will drag him around the

world.

director and screenwriter: Jan Bultheel producer: Arielle Sleutel

production company: Tondo Films (BE)

Co-producers: Topkapi Films (NL), Superprod (FR),

Tarantula (BE)

Financers: The Netherlands Film Fund, Flanders Audiovisual

Fund (VAF), MEDIA, Screen Flanders, CCA, Orange (FR), Eurozoom (FR), Conseil Regional Poitou Charentes (FR), Fortis Film Fund (BE), Eurimages, Prime (BE).

Animation technique: motion capture duration: 90 min.

release: 2015

sales: Trust Nordisk (tbc)

Jan Bultheel worked for 16 years directing and producing mainly commercials in his own production company ‘Pix & Motion’, which brought him international recognition with numerous awards. In the new millenium Jan concentrated on creative work for theater and dance companies and authored, designed and directed Hareport, an animated series for children produced by TF1 and Ketnet, sold to several European channels.

Cafard is his first animated feature film.

Contact:

Arielle Sleutel +32-497581105 arielle@tondofilms.be www.cafard.eu

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heinZ

The grumpy scrounger Heinz from Amsterdam, star of the

happily insane comic books of Windig & De Jong, saves

the world from a disaster. This is achieved with extreme

reluctance and with more luck than judgement.

director and screenwriter: Piet Kroon producer: Burny Bos

production company: BosBros Co-producer: Fabrique fantastique (BE) Financers: The Netherlands Film Fund Animation technique: 2D computer animation duration: 80 min.

release: TBA; current state: pre-production

Piet Kroon (1960) works as a writer, director and story artist in The United States filling animated films for among others Warner Bros., Disney and Dreamworks. In 2001 he directed Osmosis Jones for Warner Brothers Feature Animation. As a writer and story artist he worked alongside others on films like Shrek

II (2004), Tale of Despereaux (2008), Despicable Me (2010) and

Rio (2011). His short Dutch animated films Dada (1995) and

T.R.A.N.S.I.T (1997) won several awards at international festivals.

Contact:

Burny Bos

+31 (0)20-5244030 info@bosbros.com www.bosbros.nl

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JonAthAn

(WORKING TITLE)

It’s Jonathan’s birthday. He’s 9, timid and quirky. He wants

a real tiger so he can go outside without being bothered.

One day, he meets Somerset; a retired explorer who tells

fantastic stories about a land he discovered called Tikitan.

When Jonathan realizes it was all a fantasy, he runs away

and discovers the world through Somerset’s eyes. His

adventure helps him gain self-confidence. Jonathan is an

animated feature based on the popular book by

award-winning, Dutch author/illustrator Daan Remmerts de

Vries.

director: Onno de Jong

screenwriter: Daan Remmerts de Vries script coach: Vincent Bal

producer: Imko Niewenhuijs and Lee M. Ross

production companies: Spaghetti Film, Spunky Productions Financers: The Netherlands Film Fund

Animation technique: 2D digital duration: 82 min.

release: December 2015

Onno de Jong is an experienced animator, director and story artist. His early career started at Toonder Studio’s,Holland. In 1994 he founded his own company ‘Scooter Animation’. Three years later Onno was invited to work as a story artist for Klasky Csupo - Hollywood. He worked on TV Shows and 3 animated feature films and headed Story for the feature film The Hero of Color City (2008). Onno is working independently from his studio in California.

Contact:

Lee M. Ross +31 (0)6-50626026 leemross@spunky.nl www.spunky.nl

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JAn Cremer,

the ineXorABle

ORIGINAL TITLE: JAN CREMER, DE ONVERBIDDELIJKE

A fierce, realistic animation film of Jan Cremer, Dutch

writer, painter and beatnik avant-la-lettre, living in Paris

and New York in the sixties, frequenting the Andy Warhol

and Bob Dylan scene. A best-selling novelist, dating film

diva Jayne Mansfield to whom he had dedicated his first

novel. A dramatic, poetic story about his rise from poverty

to millionaire and back again, his rebellion against the

vested order, in which his paintings come to life in an

explosion of visual orgasms.

director and screenwriter: Ruud den Drijver producer: Dorna van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal production company: Cineventura Animation Financers: The Netherlands Film Fund Animation technique: 2D

duration: 87 min. release: 2016 sales: Cineventura

Ruud den Drijver, Education: NYU, School of the Arts and BRT Television, Directed TinTin In The

Land Of Dreams for BRT-television, Producer of the short animation films Harry Rents A Room, Magic

Show, Seventeen (Dutch entry for the Academy Awards 2005), Oblomov’s Cat (Dutch entry for the Academy Awards 2007). Screenwriter and animation director of Topor And

Me, special jury award at the Tribeca Film festival. Received the Camera of David Award at the Jewish Film Festival of Warsaw for

Sammy.

Contact:

Dorna van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal +31 (0)20-6160742

info@cineventura.com www.cineventura.com

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hieronYmus

Eccentric teenager Jerome Bosch is an aspiring artist

in a corrupt medieval world held in a stifling grip by a

witch hunting priest. When the demonic monsters from

Jerome’s nightmares come alive, he has to face all his

fears to free the city.

director and screenwriter: Erik van Schaaik producer: Jiek Weishut

production company: The Drawing Room Financers: The Netherlands Film Fund, AVRO,

Hieronymus Bosch 500 Foundation

Animation technique: 3D duration: 90 min. release: 2018

Erik van Schaaik is a Dutch filmmaker. He is known for his children’s television series i.a. Sausage

dog Titus, Piece Of Cake and Outside. Erik is well experienced in every aspect of film making, from camera operating to different animation techniques, from film scoring to directing. He has won

international acclaim for the award winning animated short films

Vent and The Phantom Of The Opera. Erik is writer/director of the animated feature Hieronymus and board member of Klik! Amsterdam Animation festival.

Contact:

Jiek Weishut +31 (0)6-24284466 Jiek@drawingroom.nl http://www.drawingroom.nl

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pAt & mAt the Film

ORIGINAL TITLE: BUURMAN & BUURMAN DE FILM

Pat & Mat have been best friends for many years. But will

their friendship survive when they are forced to leave the

safe environment of their homes?

director: Mascha Halberstad

screenwriters: Kees Prins and Patrick Stoof

producers: Derk-Jan Warrink, Leontine Petit, Joost de Vries production company: Lemming Film

Co-producer: Negativ (CZ)

Financers: The Netherlands Film Fund, VPRO Animation technique: Stop-motion animation duration: 75 min.

release: 2016

Mascha Halberstad (1973) attended the ArtEZ Art Academy in Arnhem. She is the director of animations for feature films including Taking

Chances (Berlinale Generation K+, 2012) and How

To Survive…In addition she has made numerous animation films, leaders and commissioned films. Her more recent work include a 13 episode series and special called

Picknick With Pie, which is originally a book from writer Thé Tjong-Khing, and the short animation films Goodbye Mister De

Vries and Munya In Mij.

Contact:

Derk-Jan Warrink

+31 (0)20-6610424 / +31 (0)6-52437509 derkjan@lemmingfilm.com,

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mind mY gAp

Meet Diddybob and Buddybob! Everything seems hunky

dory for the happy presenter duo who live their life on

the set of their TV show Living Interior. Off air they don’t

have the slightest notion of an existing outside. Until

questions start to rise. Who is always redecorating their

sets, who watches their show and most importantly, who

are Diddybob and Buddybob really? Mind My Gap is a

psychotic thriller about the confinements of reality, based

on the eponymous online graphic novel.

director and screenwriter: Rosto producers: Rosto and Nynke Rusticus production company: Studio Rosto A.D Co-producers: Autour de Minuit (FR) Financers: The Netherlands Film Fund

Animation technique: Hybrid (live-action, 2D, 3D) duration: 90 min.

release: TBA

Director/artist Rosto, and his Studio Rosto A.D, are well known for their independent multi award winning short films, like

Jona/Tomberry and The Monster of Nix. The latter resulted in collaboration with the Dutch Metropole Orchestra, Tom Waits, Terry Gilliam, and The Residents. Currently Lonely Bones, the second part in an intended tetralogy of music films, is screening at film festivals over the world after its premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2013 and took home the Grand Prize at the Ottawa Animation Festival 2013.

Contact:

Rosto/Will Reece +31 (0)20-4120484

production@studio.rostoad.com www.rostoad.com

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BenJAmin BAt

ORIGINAL TITLE: VICTOR VLEERMUIS

Benjamin is probably the only bat in the world who’s afraid

in the dark. When he becomes friends with Sherida, a

noisy outgoing singing bird, he begins to feel more and

more confident. And when it really matters, Benjamin

turns out to be a much braver bat than he had ever

imagined.

director: TBA

screenwriter: Lineke van den Boezem producer: Errol Nayci

production company: The Storytellers Film & TV Financers: The Netherlands Film Fund.

Animation technique: 3D animation duration: 80 min.

sales: The Storytellers Film & TV Contact:

Errol Nayci

The Storytellers Film & TV +31(0)6-53185477 errolnayci@yahoo.com

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the little CAptAin

ORIGINAL TITLE: DE KLEINE KAPITEIN

The Little Captain is a fantasy film about a group of

small children who join the little captain on his boat the

Neversink in a quest for the Island of Evertaller, a magical

place where everything grows faster. They sail past a

dragon gate, a mysterious and deserted island and a city

ruled by an evil tyrant before they reach their destination,

but in the end it is not the Island of Evertaller that makes

them grow, it is the journey itself.

director: TBA.

screenwriter: Luuk van Bemmelen

producers: San Fu Maltha, Bruno Felix, Femke Wolting production companies: Fu Works, Submarine Co-producer: Walking the Dog (BE)

Financers: The Netherlands Film Fund, MEDIA Animation technique: TBA

duration: 90 min. Contact:

San Fu Maltha / Sanne Veldhoven +31 (0)20-5307110

sanne@fuworks.nl www.fuworks.nl

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Bloom

The once very promising archaeologist Alexi is

commissioned by Governor Alina to protect any historical

remains during the construction of a subway in Mandatory

Bloom. When he finds the disputed “living” statue of

war goddess Marbelle, he gets entangled in an outburst

of sectarian strife. Gradually he gets to believe he is a

prophet while teenage terrorist Kira uncovers the myths

and poison gas rumours that dazzle the International

Community.

director: TBA

screenwriter: Jantiene de Kroon producer: Jantiene de Kroon production company: Mooves Financers: The Netherlands Film Fund Animation technique: 2D computer duration: 100 min.

Jantiene de Kroon graduated as a script writer from the Academy of Communications in Amsterdam in 2003. By that time, she had already been working as an animation film producer at Mooves, which she continued to do after her graduation. She has written and / or produced several award winning animated shorts. In 2008/2009 she attended Binger Writers lab in Amsterdam, where she started working on the script for an animated feature film Bloom.

storyboard & production design:

Remco Polman & Hisko Hulsing

Contact:

Jantiene de Kroon

+31 (0)20-6945602 / + 31 (0)6-45618669 jantiene@mooves.nl

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the netherlands Film Fund Pijnackerstraat 5 1072 JS Amsterdam The Netherlands T +31 (0)20 570 76 76 E info@filmfonds.nl W www.filmfonds.nl eye international IJpromenade 1 1031 KT Amsterdam The Netherlands P +31 (0)20 758 23 75 E international@eyefilm.nl W international.eyefilm.nl

Animated Features from the Netherlands