News

Aaron Rookus’s “De Idylle” (Idyllic) is a vibrant, teasing work, by turns melancholic and affirming. Deep emotional scars serrate the characters. Each is battling their own burdened history, much of which is buried in expectations imposed by others, internalized, about the turn their lives can take, and what choices they have. There’s so much regret and guilt about a life led to waste, anguish, and self-deception. It’s the hopeful prayer for second chances at rearranging one’s trajectory that underpins the narrative strands.

This is very much an ensemble drama, Rookus vaulting among various members of a family. The telling resists isolated chunks of perspective; everything is woven together, one reflecting off the other. Projections and echoes shatter the uniformity of an unadventurous life, especially one navigated with balking and caution. This shuts out an entire world of radical, new possibilities.

Two of the film’s central characters,...

Denmark-based firm LevelK has boarded international sales rights on Aaron Rookus’ Idyllic ahead of its world premiere at International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).

Idyllic will debut in the Big Screen Competition at IFFR on Saturday, January 1. The film depicts three generations of a Dutch family as they question their lives and relationships.

It is Dutch director Aaron Rookus’ second feature, after 2023 IFFR title Goodbye Stranger.

Idyllic is produced by Maarten van der Ven and Layla Meijman for the Netherlands’ Studio Ruba, in co-production with Xavier Rombaut of Belgium’s Polar Bear, Ivo Felt of Estonia’s Allfilm and Dutch broadcaster Bnnvara.

A kidnap thriller titled The Heineken Kidnapping aka De Heineken ontvoering is being set for release in the Netherlans this October. This is a real life story of how Freddy Heineken was kidnapped and ransomed for $16 million Euros. Freddy was eventually freed, but his kidnappers, including Willem Holleeder and Cor Van Hout, had a less than peaceful life thereafter. Hout would end up murderered and Holleeder is still in jail, serving a term for extortion. Rutger Hauer will star as Freddy Heineken. Have a look at more of the biopic film details on The Heineken Kidnapping below.

The synopsis for The Heineken Kidnapping:

"The Heineken Kidnapping is based on the kidnap of beer tycoon Heineken that hit the news in the Netherlands and abroad in the eighties of the last century. The film exceeds the well known story of the kidnap and goes on to tell the story of Alfred Heineken's revenge,...