04/23/2003

Tim Oliehoek nominated for Student Academy Award

Today became known that Tim Oliehoek’s short film THE CHAMP is nominated for The Student Academy Award in the category Foreign Film.

Tim OliehoekThe Student Academy Awards were established by the Academy in 1973 to support and encourage excellence in filmmaking at the collegiate level. The Student Academy Awards currently include the following categories: Alternative, Animation, Documentary and Narrative.

Tim Oliehoek can now be categorised in the group of Dutch filmmakers including Mike van Diem who were nominated or won this award. Mike van Dien won this Award in 1990 for his film ALASKA and won in 1998 an Academy Award in the category Foreign Language for KARAKTER. The Dutch Film and Television Academy (DFTA) has built a strong reputation in this category over the years. Till now they already were nominated 6 times for this award.

I was very surprised when I found the letter of the Academy in my letterbox. Especially because this short film has no dialogue and isn’t released yet. I made this film with the support of San Fu Maltha for the DFTA just after I was graduated. The nomination for this award is of course the most important recognition for a young filmmaker. A crown on my short carrier and a great stimulance to go on!”, thus Tim.

THE CHAMP is about a lonely old man who is confronted with the soccer playing kids in front of his house. In secret he wants to be part of them but that’s not possible because of his age. One day he decided to pick up his old soccer shoes en join the kids and he will pay the penalty of his choice.

Tim Oliehoek was accepted on the DFTA after his 2,5 hours during movie BUY OR DIE get a lot of attention from the national press. He was only 18 years old then. He graduated with the film ISABELLE by the book of Tessa de Loo. This film was nominated for The Tuschinski Award and won a Student Award on the USA Film Festival. His first telefilm 15.35:SPOOR 1 is nominated for the Prix D’Italie. Nowadays the 24 year old Tim is, again together with producer San Fu Maltha, preparing a remake of a Danish hit film.