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PRODUCTION Netherlands

Kenau shooting in Hungary

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- Director Maarten Treurniet is currently in production on a female-driven period epic in Hungary

After the local success of the real-life story of The Heineken Kidnapping, [+see also:
trailer
interview: Reinout Scholten van Aschat
film profile
]
which took place in the early 1980s, Dutch director Maarten Treurniet (photo) goes all the way back to 1572 to film another story from Netherlandic history for his latest project, Kenau.

Kenau tells the story of the titular protagonist, a strong woman who took the reigns during the military siege of the Dutch city of Haarlem by the Spaniards at the start of the Eighty Years War (1568-1648).
 
The siege of Haarlem lasted for over seven months until the population of Haarlem was forced to surrender to the Spaniards because there was nothing left to eat in the city. The forced capitulation was a severe blow for the Protestant Dutch, who were trying to make a stand against the Spanish Catholic rulers.
 
One of the amazing stories of the siege is that of Kenau, a timber merchant and the daughter of a former mayor of the city whose youngest daughter was executed by the Spaniards and who fought the siege with an army of 300 women, which however caused major friction with her other daughter.
 
Her story has been adapted for the screen by actress-screenwriter Karen van Holst Pellekaan and Marnie Blok, who also co-wrote The Happy Housewife [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and Jackie [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
.
 
Kenau is a production of Fu Works, in co-production with Belgian partner Prime Time and the Hungarians of I’m Film (which previously co-produced Dutch hit Het Bombardement) [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
. Broadcaster NCRV, the CoBO fund, the Ministry of Culture, the Dutch Film Fund, the Media Programme, the Belgian Tax Shelter, the Hungarian Tax Shelter also back the production.
 
Kenau also received €600,000 from Eurimages (a record for a Dutch film) and €190,000 from the Hungarian Film Fund; the total budget is about €6m.
 
The production is currently shooting in Hungary and Dutch Film Works expects to release the film in February 2014.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)
(The article continues below - Commercial information)

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