The Woodstock Film Festival announced its New for 2015 World Cinema Competition, including a special Focus on Dutch Cinema in partnership with the Netherlands Consulate General in New York. The Woodstock Film Festival has programmed three Dutch narratives to showcase the vast range Dutch cinema has to offer: RENDEZ-VOUS, MEET ME IN VENICE, and SUMMER. All Dutch filmmakers will be in attendance.
Sparked by this joint venture with the Netherlands Consulate and the superb selection of other international films at the festival, the 2015 Woodstock Film Festival has launched its inaugural World Cinema Competition Award. Joining the three Dutch films are two additional World Cinema highlights, MOSCOW NEVER SLEEPS (Irish-Russian) and THERE SHOULD BE RULES (Swedish), to forge a strong line-up of international competition.
WORLD CINEMA COMPETITION FILMS:
FOCUS ON DUTCH CINEMA- THE NETHERLANDS
RENDEZ-VOUS, DIRECTED BY ANTIONETTE BEUMER (pictured in main image above)
US PREMIERE
Simone needs a change. Together with her husband Eric and their two children, she buys a decrepit mansion in the south of France, to turn it into a home and B&B. While the chaos of the renovation grows, Simone flees into a thrilling affair with one of the French construction workers, the gorgeous twenty-year-old Michel. She slowly loses control of her life and the French dream turns into her worst nightmare.
MEET ME IN VENICE, DIRECTED BY EDDY TERSTALL
US PREMIERE
Recounted by Lisa through a video she makes for her son, this Dutch father-daughter story of reconciliation unfolds between a woman and the father she first meets in adulthood. When the absentee Mauro invites Lisa to join him in Venice, she decides to go. But the journey doesn’t stop there, and the father-daughter road trip takes them from Italy to Istanbul along the Orient Express route, with breathtaking imagery of the Balkans and heartwarming musical interludes. In getting to know her father, Lisa gets to know herself.
SUMMER (ZOMER), DIRECTED BY COLETTE BOTHOF
NEW YORK PREMIERE
“Zomer” (“Summer”) is sweltering in a Dutch village where everyday life is dominated by the continually droning power plant. Anne, a quiet girl who longs to escape the confines of her small town, often feels like an outsider — until she meets Lena, a new girl in town who rides a motorbike, wears leather and is different from everybody else. With the awkward tenderness of youth and innocence, the two girls quickly form a bond and the audience gets to watch as young love unfolds. Authentic performances and cinematography that captures the languor and heat of summertime create a beautiful story of sexual awakening and a girl daring to be different. For those who have traveled beyond the teenage years, it is a reminder of the possibilities life holds.
MOSCOW NEVER SLEEPS, DIRECTED BY JOHNNY O’REILLY
RUSSIA – US PREMIERE
Moscow Never Sleeps is a multi-narrative drama about the hidden bonds that connects us all. The film dives headlong into the volatile intersections of contemporary Moscow and the intimate lives of five people.
O’Reilly’s short The Terms screened at the 2001 Woodstock Film Fest, winning for Best Short Film.
THERE SHOULD BE RULES, DIRECTED BY LINDA-MARIE BIRBECK
SWEDEN – EAST COAST PREMIERE
Mia and Mirjam, two passionate, free-spirited 14-year-olds, along with Karl, who is inventive and wise beyond his years, are a close knit threesome in a small town in Sweden where nothing ever happens. Mia wishes there were no rules and tempts life again and again. Mirjam, seeking love, finds her road to adulthood in a steamy romance with an older man who claims he loves her. Karl, supporting Mia’s sense of loss as her best friend is pulled away by new love, helps concoct ways to bring Mirjam back to them. While friendship and family bonds are tested and facades eventually crumble, the teens declare, “we are never becoming ordinary.”