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PRODUCTION Luxembourg / Netherlands

Ben Sombogaart pilots Bride Flight

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Dutch director Ben Sombogaart – whose most recent film, Crusade in Jeans [+see also:
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, was crowned Best Film at the Golden Calves earlier this month (see news) – has reunited much of the team behind his Oscar-nominated 2002 box office hit Twin Sisters for his new film Bride Flight.

After an initial month of shooting in Luxembourg, Sombogaart is currently filming in New Zealand on the €6.4m co-production that reunites IDTV Film, Samsa Film and Dutch broadcaster NCRV.

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Bride Flight tells the story of a famous air race that took place in 1953 from London to Christchurch, New Zealand. The KLM flight that won the race was dubbed the “Bride Flight” because many of its passengers were Dutch immigrant women who were joining their fiancés in their new homeland. Like Twin Sisters, the screenplay was written by Marieke van der Pol and again shifts between different time frames – in this case 1953, 1963 and the present.

The film focuses on three women friends: Jewish fashion designer Esther (Anna Drijver, Flirt), who lost her family during WWII; Ada (Karina Smulders, Wolfsbergen), who was forced to marry a Zeeland boy after he got her pregnant; and Marjorie (newcomer Elisa Schaap), who simply wants to escape the poor and crowded Netherlands.

They are joined by the adventurer Frank (Waldermar Torrenstra, Deep), who is immediately attracted to Ada. Dutch acting veterans Pleuni Touw, Willeke van Ammelrooy and Petra Laseur will play Ada, Marjorie and Esther in their seventies.

Luxembourg co-producer Samsa Film hosted the first month of shooting of both interiors and exteriors and will be waiting for the crew’s return in December for one more week of filming. It was the company’s last international co-production mounted with the old CIAV audiovisual certificate system. Over 30 Luxembourg crew worked or will be working on the film, including composer Jeannot Sanavia.

A-Film will distribute Bride Flight domestically in autumn 2008.

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