We are honoured to receive as our special guest this session, director ARNE TOONEN. Arne is unstoppable. His latest film BAANTJER HET BEGIN, the prequel of the popular TV series BAANTJER, starring our former ambassador Waldemar Torenstra and our current ambassador Tygo Gernandt, is now in 134 cinemas across the country. There’s so much more in Arne’s future, including two international projects and a series -> unstoppable!
MORE ABOUT ARNE
Arne Toonen has, like many other directors of his generation, a warm interest in various popular film genres. His work is among the most stylish and smartly directed Dutch mainstream films of this era. His experience in directing dozens of commercials have surely added to his skills.
His feature debut Dik Trom (2010) was a box-office hit in the Netherlands. The gangster comedy Black Out (2012) was very well received in the international film press. Moreover, Little Gangster (2015) was selected for the prestigious Sundance Film festival in 2016.
Arne graduated as an artist from the art academy in Arnhem. For two years, he worked several jobs in the film industry, as a carpenter, editor and clapper loader, before he was admitted to the Film academy in Amsterdam. He graduated, contributing to seven projects, among them his own shorts Faja and Anderland.
After graduating in 2003, he directed three shorts, Oh Deer, Drop Dead and Milah. In 2008 and 2009, he helmed several episodes of popular Dutch TV-series, among them Het Schitzelparadijs and Flow. In 2017, he directed the episode Stormram in the series Van God los.
In 2000, Arne worked as a clapper loader on the set of Baantjer, a long-running Dutch police series. In 2018, he directed, not only the new series (with Waldemar Torenstra as inspector Baantjer), but also of the feature film Baantjer het Begin, which premiered the 15th of April in the DeLamar in Amsterdam.
Arne is involved, as director, in two other international projects, Playboy Priest and Robbing the Grave.
In our Official Selection, you can watch and meet the teams of:
SLEEPERS
directed by Danny Maas | Live-Action | 8:45
When the depressed Herman wants to end his life by jumping in front of a train, he gets competition from a suicidal man. They start a competition: who is the saddest, and who deserves the approaching train.
TRIBE OF GHOSTS
directed by Almicheal Fraay | Documentary | 08:25
‘Tribe of Ghosts’ is a documentary that takes place within a government-run shelter; here we see how children with albinism live alongside children with visual and auditory problems. We follow a group of children with albinism on their daily rituals as they struggle with their burden and we witness their fragile childhood. Armed guards watch over the children 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The children with albinism cannot leave the shelter because they are likely to be subjected to torture and ill-treatment or worse death. In this documentary we will observe the innocence of these young children and learn about the consequences of these superstitions.
