29/07/2016 - Dakota Fanning and Guy Pearce star in Dutch director Martin Koolhoven’s first English-language feature

Brimstone [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Martin Koolhoven
film profile], the first English-language film by Dutch director Martin Koolhoven (Schnitzel Paradise [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Martin Khoolhoven
interview: Mimoun Oaïssa
film profile]), has been selected to compete at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival (31 August – 10 September). The selection ends a hiatus of ten years during which no Dutch title made it into the running for the Golden Lion – the last one to do so was Paul Verhoeven’s Black Book [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

Hollywood actors Dakota Fanning and Guy Pearce lead the cast of this gothic thriller set in the old west. Fanning plays a mute young woman who communicates through sign language, occasionally assisted by her daughter. When the city receives a new reverend (Pearce), she immediately knows she and her family are in danger. Over four chapters, Brimstone will show the confrontation between the two, and also portray how the heroine’s life unfolded in the past. Kit “Jon Snow” Harington and Dutch actress Carice van Houten (Black Book) play supporting roles.

Brimstone is a major European co-production effort led by Dutch company N279 Entertainment, along with X-Filme (Germany), Prime Time (Belgium), The Jokers (France) and Dragon Films (Sweden), and it boasted support from the Netherlands Film Fund.

Two other Dutch minority co-productions are also heading to the Lido this year, set to screen in the Orizzonti section: King of the Belgians [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jessica Woodworth, Peter Br…
film profile] and White Sun. King of the Belgians is the latest effort by duo Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth. Amsterdam-based outfit Topkapi Films got on board this co-production led by Belgium’s Bo Films, which also involves Entre Chien et Loup (Belgium) and Art Fest (Bulgaria). Finally, there is also Deepak Rauniyar’s film White Sun [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which was produced by Aadi Production (Nepal), in co-production with Louverture Films (USA) and The Film Kitchen (Netherlands).