by Nathaniel R
Romy's Salon is one of nine finalists for the Dutch Oscar submission
Dutch films have been on our brains since Rutger Hauer passed away, so here's a timely bit of news. The NOSC (Nederlandse Oscar Selectie Commissie) will choose the Dutch Oscar submission in early September. Nine finalists are reportedly up for the honor...
- Bloody Marie (Guido Van Driel & Lennert Hillege)
An action drama about a drunk artist living in the Red Light District. - Kabul, City in the Wind (Aboozar Amini)
A documentary about daily life in Kabul inbetween suicide bombings. It's won a few festival prizes. - Romy's Salon (Mischa Kamp)
A young girl spends each day in her grandmother's salon. This is from the director of Boys (2014) a gay drama we enjoyed quite a lot. This doesn't open in The Netherlands until the fall so we hope it does the festival circuit in September. - De Libi (Shady El-Hamus)
A comedy about teenagers trying to get into a nightclub
- My Extraordinary Summer with Tess (Steven Wouterlood)
A drama about a boy on summer vacation with his parents. This has been quite successful at international festivals where youth films are awarded including a "Special Mention" at Berlinale. - Open Seas (Michiel van Erp)
Coming of age drama about three young friends and the death of one of their fathers. It's based on a novel. This is the oldest film among the possible submissions since it opened right after the cut off point for last year's Oscar submissions. - Sheep Hero (Ton Van Zantfoort)
A documentary about a shepherd forced to innovate with the changing times. It's won some festival awards. - Take Me Somewhere Nice (Rna Sendijarevic)
A Dutch-Bosnian girl travels to Bosnia to meet her father for the first time. Jury "Special Mention" at the Rotterdam Film Festival. - Vechtmeisje (Johan Timmers)
A young kickboxer struggles with the breakup of her parents. Like Extraordinary Summer it fared well at family film festivals. Europeans tend to make MUCH better youth films than the US does.
None of these filmmakers have ever been submitted from The Netherlands so whoever's chosen will have their first taste of the Oscar race. We haven't even a good educated guess about which of these nine films they might choose, though, so let's guess that it's won of the youth dramas: either Romy's Salon, Vechtmeijse, or My Extraordinary Summer.
Antonia's Line (1997) proved to be the most successful Dutch Oscar winner in US theaters
The Netherlands have been up for the Oscar in the Best International Film category a total of 7 times. Their first two nominations came via The Village on the River (1959) and Turkish Delight (1973) and their most recent two nominations were Zuz & Zo (2002) and Twin Sisters (2003), both of which were disasters when they hit arthouse theaters in the US earning less than $50,000 each. In between those doubles, The Netherlands won three Oscars for The Assault (1986), Antonia's Line (1995), and Character (1997)... all three of which were successful in their arthouse runs, with Antonia's Line becoming a very big specialty hit. The drought of the past 15 years must be irrritating to the NOSC since they've made the finalist list thrice in that time frame (Black Book, Winter in Wartime, Accused) but no nominations have followed.
OSCAR CHARTS FOR THE INTERNATIONAL FILM RACE
p.s. thank you to Erik Anderson for the heads up on this news.