The film Narcosis by the Amsterdam director Martijn de Jong and the stop-motion film Knor by the Amsterdam producer Marleen Slot are submitted to the Oscars. In the coming months, their films will be viewed by 6,000 judges. An exciting time, but the makers are especially happy that the films are so well received.
The first feature film by the Amsterdam director Martijn de Jong premiered this weekend at the Netherlands Film Festival in Utrecht. The film has been nominated for the Golden Calf film award and is the Dutch Oscar entry in the best international film category. The director had not seen that coming, he says on NH Radio. “That’s a great start, we’ll have it before it’s on the canvas.”
The premiere was last weekend and that was just as exciting. “You can’t change the film anymore, because it has been ready for a while.” Martijn says that at such a premiere he has to be in the spotlight for a while, while he is normally happy to be behind the camera. “That all took some getting used to, but very nice.”
The story
“That father goes professional diving in a deep cave and does not resurface,” says the director about the story. “His children are left alone, knowing that he is dead. There is no real evidence, but you know that he will never come up again.” The film follows that family and how they deal with it. “We found that story in all the things we saw around us. Fortunately, it is not autobiographical.” Although the film sounds heavy, according to De Jong it is also about hope and the beautiful little things.
Narcosis will be the Dutch Oscar entry. “In principle, there are 6,000 people from the Oscar academy and they have to go see the film. Whether they like it, of course I can’t help that, but they have to go see it.” Thekla Reuten and Fedja van Huêt, the actors who play the lead roles, have already been submitted or nominated for the prize.
Martijn previously worked on commercials, which is a completely different sport. “You have been working on this for years. You start with advertising and before you know it it is already finished. That makes this a completely different, but beautiful process.”
In the category best full-length animated film, the film Knor was submitted to the Oscars and was nominated for several Golden Calves (Best Film, Best Direction, Best Screenplay and Best Production Design). The film is about a girl who gets a pig as a pet from her grandfather, but he actually has completely different plans for Knor. Amsterdam producer Marleen Slot is very happy with all the praise. “It is very special, not very many stop-motion films are made in the Netherlands,” she tells NH Nieuws.
Together with director Mascha Halberstad, among others, the film was worked on for eight years. In 2014 Mascha went looking for a book in the bookstore and got ‘The Revenge of Knor’ in her hands from the saleswoman, then the ball started rolling. “We had such a passionate team. It really is a reward for everyone’s work. Also those nominations for the Golden Calves. A family film in these categories. We are a bit stunned.”
It remains to be seen whether the films will actually be nominated for the Oscars. The Oscar nominations will be announced on January 24. From October 20, Narcosis can be seen in cinemas.