The animation film Knor, made by the Amsterdam based Viking Film, is the Dutch entry for the Oscar nominations for best animated feature film. Never before has there been a Dutch stop-motion film on that list. But that is not everything. On Friday, the film has a chance to win five Golden Calves during the Film Festival Gala in Utrecht.
“It is really overwhelming and very special,” says Marleen Slot from Amsterdam-Noord. The producer, who grew up in Wieringen, made the film together with director Mascha Halberstad. The story is based on a children’s book. “Eight years have passed since the moment Mascha walked into the bookshop.”
The financing, among other things, took a lot of time, but also the making of the film. “With stop-motion you make the film at the front. So the storyboards and the voices are recorded in advance. The animators make all the images. Everything what you see in the film is handmade.”
This week the duo was told that they have a chance to win major film prizes at home and abroad
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How did the film end up on the Oscars list? “That is due to the body that promotes Dutch films abroad. They have provided extra money to make an English version.” In addition, extra money was needed to have the film recorded again. “It wasn’t all done until last weekend.”
But Slot thinks the Dutch film nominations are at least as honourable. “It is very special, because we have been nominated by colleagues.” The film has been nominated in the categories Best Picture, Best Direction, Best Screenplay, Best Production Design and Best Sound Design.
If she wins prizes during the Film Festival in Utrecht on Friday, it is not the first time for her. In 2019 she received a golden calf for the film ‘Dirty God’, which she made together with the Amsterdam director Sacha Polak.
shortlist
The 95th Oscars will be presented on March 12 next year. “We are now on a longlist. The shortlist will be announced on December 21 and then the nominations for the Oscars will be announced in January. It is therefore possible that the adventure will end in December. Yet this is also crazy The fact that we can make this film and that there was confidence in us. That’s what’s most meaningful.”