08/02/2006

The Oscar nominated suicide bomber drama Paradise Now [+see also:
trailer
film profile], though technically competing for Palestine, was financed mainly by European production outlets, with the lion’s share put up by Amsterdam-based Augustus Film. The motion picture from director and co-writer Hany Abu-Assad (who lives in the Netherlands) was crowned Dutch film of the year at the most recent Golden Calf ceremony and has been a steady success for sales company Celluloïd Dreams.

Holland Film, the promotion agency of Dutch cinema, has announced that with sales concluded for 80 territories outside of the Netherlands, the film has become the biggest Dutch success since Holland Film started keeping track of sales in 1993. The previous record holder was the Oscar winning drama Karakter (Character), which was sold to 63 countries.

Earlier this month, the film, which premiered at the 2005 Berlinale, went home with the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. Dutch producer Bero Beyer said that after winning the Globe he would have been disappointed had the film not been nominated for an Oscar: “The red carpet is addictive, and the Globe win makes one greedy,” he was quoted as saying. Since the Oscar nomination there has been even more interest from foreign distributors. Countries that rarely show Dutch films that have already bought the rights to Paradise Now include Iran, Egypt, Japan, Brazil and Morocco.

Paradise Now was produced by Augustus Film, in co-production with German outlet Razor Film Produktion, the French Lumen Films, Israeli partners Hazazah Film and Lama Productions, and with financial support of Arte France Cinéma, Eurimages, Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg and the Dutch Film Fund. The Oscar winners will be announced on March 5.