Joy, directed by Mijke de Jong to a screenplay by Helena van der Meulen, has become the leader in the battle for the Golden Calfs at the Netherlands Film Festival. With seven nominations, all attention has, deservedly, suddenly turned to a small but intensely filmed and acted drama that had hitherto remained somewhat in the shadows. This fiercely portrayed impression of the obsessive search of a young woman who was abandoned on a park bench as a baby was found worthy of a Golden Calf in the categories best film, direction, screenplay, lead actress, supporting actress, camera and production design. In 2007, Mijke de Jong received the Golden Calf for her direction of Standings.
The hitherto much more attention-grabbing Tirza by Rudolf van den Berg based on the book by Arnon Grunberg picked up five nominations. The one for best film is conspicuously absent. Nominations did include Van den Berg's direction alongside lead actor Gijs Scholten van Aschat, and Sylvia Hoeks' supporting role alongside the music and editing.
It also received five nominations (for direction, screenplay, camera, sound and editing), which, by Dutch standards, is rather exotic R U There by David Verbeek to a script by Rogier de Blok. This typical arthouse production about the loneliness of a gamer who can only show his feelings in Second Life premiered in Cannes earlier this year, a special honour for a Dutch production.
The nominations show a reasonable balance between audience film and artistic, with perhaps a slight preference for the latter. That all directions should be covered is most evident in the nominations for best film, with arthouse film Joy, in addition to the crowd hit Does a woman see a doctor and the imaginative family film Long & happy.
Most notable absent from the nominations is The aviator of Kazbek by Ineke Smits. It was recently announced that this magical realistic war story may well represent the Netherlands in the election of best European film.
With only 1 nomination (for the assembly) may also Dusk by Hanro Smitsman be called underrated. However, this razor-sharp depiction of a youth group process leading to murder did receive the MovieSquad Award from the youth jury last night.
The overview of all nominations: http://www.filmfestival.nl/nl/festival/nieuws/bekendmaking-nominaties-gouden-kalveren-2010/
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