24/04/2009

The Dutch box office hit The Silent Army [+see also:
film review
film profile] (released locally as Wit licht) has been selected for the Un Certain Regard section of the upcoming Cannes Film Festival (May 13-24).

It is the first time veteran writer/director Jean van de Velde (All Stars) will present a film at the festival. “Your biggest dream as a filmmaker is a beautiful movie. Then you dream about the Oscars and Cannes. That this movie, which was so important and so intense for me to make, receives such a follow-up, is quite unbelievable,” he said.

The film, which focuses on child soldiers in Africa, was released in December in the Netherlands and attracted over 300,000 moviegoers. It stars popular local singer Marco Borsato as a Dutch cook and owner of a restaurant in Africa who goes into the jungle to find the missing playmate of his son, who has been recruited by a local warlord.

Both the singer-turned-actor and the director have strong connections to the setting and theme of the film. Van de Velde was born in Congo and lived there as a child, while Borsato has long been connected to the humanitarian War Child charity, which aims to help children from war-torn nations.

Besides Borsato, the film also stars former Dutch Shooting Star Thekla Reuten, as a War Child field worker, and Ugandan actor Abby Mukiibi Nkaaga (The Last King of Scotland [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) as the warlord.

Holland Film’s Claudia Landsberger commented: “We are very proud of the filmmakers and extremely pleased the Cannes Film Festival responded so positively to this film. For the whole of the Netherlands’ film industry this is very important”.

The Silent Army was produced by Chris Brouwer, Richard Claus and Paul Brinks for The Entertainment Group Films. It was released in the Netherlands by Independent Films.