The region stirs! Screen Talent NL launched at Dutch Film Festival -

Does a Dutch film automatically mean an Amsterdam production? Isn't the rest of the country brimming with talent then? That was pretty much the starting point of The regions' move, a presentations at the Netherlands Film Festival conference. Diversity is a common keyword in the film industry these days. It is often about women, people of colour or gender issues. But now let's talk about geoneutrality too, shall we? Chew on that new word,

For those who might doubt the urgency, one of the presenters projected a revealing graph on the cinema screen. Which showed that money for film productions indeed flows disproportionately to Amsterdam companies. The further from the Randstad, the more meagre.

Launch

But the region is stirring, speakers said. Talent is everywhere. There are festivals. Promotion of venues. Development of film plans. Regional funds are emerging. The Dutch episode of The East plays in Limburg. I myself am thinking of The Battle of the Scheldt. It is still fairly fragmented, but particularly in Limburg (CineSud, Limburg Film Office) and Friesland (New Noardic Wave, Screen North) has been going on a lot for years. That is where Guido Franken and Joris Hoebe have their spots, respectively. They are the initiators of the brand-new project Screen Talent NL. With energetically placed signatures of Franken, Hoebe and other founders, it was officially launched on the spot.

Screen Talent NL is a new network of regional talent and production initiatives. The aim is that eventually all regions of the Netherlands will be represented. Exchange of ideas, initiatives, experiences on talent development, production and other film activities can strengthen the regional film infrastructure. It will make the Netherlands richer, more diverse and more inclusive. The network aims to give more opportunities to film talents in all parts of the country.

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In the accompanying press release, Guido Franken states, "The Netherlands is virtually the only country in Europe with little or no focus on film ecosystems outside the country's film centre (Amsterdam). In many regions, local and regional authorities have invested heavily in talent and production hubs in recent years. To make the Netherlands a thriving and competitive film production country that can also continue to meet increased content demand, it is important to start structurally connecting, strengthening and supporting these regional hubs and thus the national talent and production network."

Joris Hoebe added: "With the huge rising demand from streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon and Videoland, there is an acute shortage of trained film talent. More directors, writers, cameramen and facilitating crew such as lighting technicians and runners are needed in the coming years. This is a huge opportunity for employment in our regions, but also nationwide, productions can be better spread across the country and original stories can see the light of day. To achieve this, investment is really needed now."

Currently, the new network already has the support of co-founders We Are Playgrounds (platform for visual artists in Brabant), MACA (Amsterdam incubator) and the Machinery (Utrecht av-hotspot). Collaboration will be established with the national development institute FilmForward and there are foreign contacts. Screen Talent NL hopes to persuade national politicians to provide annual support of €6 million.

All under the motto: Think globally, act locally. And, come to think of it, isn't it often the case that authentic film stories firmly rooted locally have universal appeal precisely because of this?