30/05/2012 - The new Cinéfondation project of Dutch screenwriter-turned-director Marco van Geffen won the Prix Arte in Cannes

Though there was no majority Dutch production screened in Cannes this year, the Cinéfondation project of Dutch screenwriter-turned-director Marco van Geffen (photo) not only attracted attention but also left with an award.

One of 15 projects in the festival's Atelier, Geffen's proposed second feature project, In Your Name, was awarded the Prix Arte des Relations Internationales in Cannes. The award comes with a monetary prize of €6,000.

In Your Name is the second installment in a proposed trilogy entitled The Drama of the Happy Family, which looks at a nightmare of Dutch suburban living. Part one, Among Us [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], premiered last year in Locarno.

...Name looks at the grief of a couple after the crowning achievement and living proof of their love, their as yet unnamed baby, suddenly dies of a rare disease and the husband and wife find themselves dealing with their mourning very differently, with devastating results.

The film, which will star Elise Schaap and Barry Atsma and will be produced by Derk-Jan Warrink and Leontine Petit (Lemming Film, the Netherlands); Titus Kreyenberg (Unafilm, Germany); Janja Kralj (Kinoelektron, France) and Dries Phlypo (A Private View, Belgium).

One of the director's shorts, My Sister, competed for a Palme d'Or in 2007, so Van Geffen is not entirely a stranger on the Croisette.

The presence of the Dutch contingent in Cannes was not huge this year, with two minority co-productions in competition (Post Tenebras Lux [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Carlos Reygadas and In the Fog [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Sergei Loznitsa) and one out of competition (Villegas [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Gonzalo Tobal).