08/23/2012

Cinekid festival opens with MILO

MILO, the debut film by Berend and Roel Boorsma, was chosen as the opening film of Cinekid. The 26th Cinekid Festival opens on October 17th in Amsterdam with two films. In July, MILO won the Italian Giffoni Film Festival, the award for originality and creativity in the storytelling. MILO is directed by the brothers Berend and Roel Boorsma, who have also written the scenario together with Heather Imani. The Dutch San Fu Maltha of Fu Works (WINTER IN WARTIME; BLACKBOOK) and the Irish David Collins and Martina Niland of Samson Films (ONCE; SNAP; EDEN) are responsible for the production, in coproduction with A Private View from Belgium.

Cinekid organizes yearly in Autumn, the International Film, Television and New Media Festival for the Youth. What began as a small film festival has in the past 26 years grown into a prestigious international festival. "Cinekid is proud to take this distinctive film to open. MILO fits well in our tradition to program exceptional and sometimes harrowing youth productions for a wide audience," quotes Sannette Naeye, director of Cinekid. The directors are pleased with the selection: "We have tried to make a film which deals in an original way with themes as prejudices, acceptance and fixation on appearance, and where the youth but also an adult audience can identify with. We are honoured to be chosen as the opening film of Cinekid 2012 and look forward to the reactions of the audience."

Milo, an isolated 10-year-old boy with 'sensitive skin', lives a life rigidly controlled by his father. Sparked by his first friendship, he runs away from home to attend the school camping trip but never arrives. He falls into the hands of an ageing criminal couple, with whom he enjoys pure freedom from constraint until he learns the shocking truth about his skin condition. Filled with doubt about his father's love for him, Milo must try to come to terms with who he really is.

The international cast includes the 12-year-old debutant Lorcan Bonner, Graham Stewart (HUNGER), Jer O'Leary (MY LEFT FOOT; THE FIELD; IN AMERICA), Laura Vasiliu (4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, 2 DAYS; IL RESTO DELLA NOTTE) Charlotte Bradley (ABOUT ADAM) and the Dolf de Vries (BLACK BOOK; SOLDIER OF ORANGE).

MILO is the first feature film of Berend and Roel Boorsma. In the past they have directed the short film BRAT have worked on several commercials such as for Heineken, Cola Cola and MTV. At The Netherlands Film Festival 2007, MILO won the Kodak NPP Development Award and there was a lot of interest of international parties at the film festivals in Utrecht and Rotterdam. Based on the character of the film, we have chosen for a co production with the Irish Samson Films. Dutch-Irish co productions have already proven to be successful: NOTHING PERSONAL was in 2009 selected by dozens of international festivals, it was sold to 16 countries and won many awards.

MILO is produced by San Fu Maltha (Fu Works), David Collins and Martina Niland (Samson Films) in co-production with Belgian producer A Private View. Fu Works awarded films BLACK BOOK and WINTER IN WARTIME reached the Short List for the Academy Awards and TIRZA was the Dutch entry in 2011. Samson Films film ONCE (2007) has won awards at the Sundance Festival and at the Academy Awards. This year the production SNAP won the award for Best Film and Best Director at the Critics Circle Awards, during the Dublin Film Festival. Milo is supported by The Netherlands Film Fund, the Matching Fund, the Irish Film Board, the Irish Tax incentive and the Belgian Tax Shelter.

Benelux Film Distributors will release the film in Dutch cinema's in November 2012.