10/05/2013 - Dutch director Jeroen Leinders’ largely English-language historical film Tula the Revolt, starring Jeroen Krabbé and Danny Glover, is gearing up for a July 4 release

Dutch commercial director Jeroen Leinders’ feature debut, the mainly English-language film Tula: The Revolt, is gearing up for a general release on July 4th and possibly a premiere on July 1, a historically significant date as slavery was abolished in the Netherlands exactly 150 years on that day.

Tula: The Revolt recounts the true story of the biggest revolt of African slaves thatoccurred on the Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao in 1795, a revolt that was spurred on by the fact that the French had abolished slavery in Haiti a year earlier (which in turn was a consequence of the French revolution).

British actor Obi Abili will play the role of Tula, the leader of the revolt, with a host of Dutch actors playing members of the Colonial administration, including the late Jeroen Willems (It’s All So Quiet) [+see also:
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US actor Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Lethal Weapon) co-stars as one of the eminent elderly slaves, while actress Natalie Simpson will play Speranza, Tula’s love interest.

The actions of Tula, who initiated the revolt as a non-violent protest before things escalated, are still commemorated every year in Curaçao on August 17th.

The screenplay of the film was written by Curtis Holt Hawkins and is based on the book Tula: Lost Freedom, a painstakingly researched historical novel written by Leinders.

Guy Farley composed the score and Dolph van Stapele isthe director of photography and also produces the film with Leinders for the company FishEye Feature Films.

Inspire Pictures co-produces and the film will be distributed by Benelux Film Distributors.