Filmmaker Loïs Dols De Jong Wins £1 Million
Dutch director Loïs Dols de Jong's graduation film El Muerto has won an award at the London film festival 'That Film Festival', consisting of a pledge of a £1 million budget for the development of a feature film.
To be eligible for the main prize, twenty candidates were commissioned to produce a film based on the same four-page screenplay. Loïs Dols de Jong made this film, entitled BREACH, entirely independently and cast Teun Kuilboer in the leading role.
Loïs: “It's unreal. I almost didn't complete that final assignment because I had no financial resources and therefore thought I didn't have a chance. I actually went to the festival to build new contacts.”
That Film Festival is a relatively new film festival. This year is the second edition. Last year, the financial injection was won by the young filmmaker David Cohen with his short film THE DREAMSY.
Loïs: “The organization gives makers Carte Blanche with the amount of money. It may be a long version of EL MUERTO, but also a completely new production. The only requirement is that it must be an English-language production, so I am committed to a Dutch-English co-production.”
The graduation film EL MUERTO was shown at the Keep an Eye Festival in the summer of 2019 and can be seen via NPO Start (VPRO).
About Loïs Dols de Jong:
Loïs Dols de Jong played a leading role in the feature film 'Life from a Day' by Mark de Cloe in her teenage years. She obtained an honors degree in Clinical Neuropsychology at the UvA before being admitted to the Film Academy as a 'screenwriter'. During the training she chose a different direction: fiction directing.
Source: Bios Agenda