The Telescoop initiative, from NPO, the CoBO Fund and the Netherlands Film Fund, has awarded €1.8 million apiece in production funding to two new features. The funds are intended to support high-quality films for large audiences.

Patrick Raats’ Benjamin Bat is the first animated flick to be backed by Telescoop. The coming-of-age story, penned by Karen van Holst Pellekaan, revolves around a small, fearful bat called Benjamin. When he happens to fall in love with Sherida, a Surinamese songbird, everything changes, and he has to stand up for himself and challenge his family in order to win her heart. The project, commissioned by AVROTROS, is being produced by Errol Nayci for Storytellers Film & TV and Arnoud Rijken for Il Luster, in co-operation with Germany’s Studio FILM BILDER and Luxembourg’s Paul Thiltges Distributions.

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The second project backed by Telescoop is Dana Nechushtan’s Piece of My Heart [+lire aussi :
critique
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interview : Dana Nechushtan
interview : Yannick Jozefzoon
fiche film]. The script, penned by Roos Ouwehand, is set in the 1970s and centres on a ballerina called Irma, who has to witness how her insanely talented friend Olga falls victim to anorexia nervosa, alcohol and drugs. Heartened by the power of their friendship, she finally realises that she has to grant Olga the freedom to live and die in her own way. Piece of My Heart is being staged by Topkapi Films, Belgium’s Eyeworks Film & TV Drama and Triangle Film. The attached broadcaster is NTR.

The applications were assessed by a committee consisting of three members – namely, two external advisors appointed by the film agency and one representative acting on behalf of the public broadcasters. In recent years, Telescoop has backed Maria Peters’ The Conductor [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film] (2018) and Matthijs van Heijningen Jr’s upcoming war drama The Forgotten Battle, among other projects.