Cold Case: The Disappearance of Britta Cloetens
Dutch CORE Sales Manager Margaret Stanneveld talks to Business Doc Europe about the large slate of home-grown (and beyond) documentaries that she and her team will be selling at Docs for Sale 2020.
Despite the name, Dutch CORE sells more than just documentaries out of the Netherlands. While looking after the sales interests of the major Dutch broadcasters, the company also sells all rights (less theatrical) for doc content produced by Flemish broadcaster VRT. Dutch CORE also represents independent Dutch product as well, such as Mad About Truffles (2020) by Jascha de Wilde and Ben Hendriks.
At Docs for Sale, the company will represent no less than 15 titles that include Truus’ Children by Pamela Sturhoofd & Jessica van Tijn, which is available in 90- and 60-minute versions. The film tells the story of Dutch war hero Truus Wijsmuller who, before and during WWII, saved the lives of thousands of Jewish children, some of whom tell Truus’ story.
In the Flemish film Cold Case: The Disappearance of Britta Cloetens (95’ and 2×43’), court journalists reconstruct the investigation into the sensational disappearance and murder of the 25-year-old Britta Cloetens in 2011 and subsequent investigation into Tijl Teckmans, a showroom salesman.
The company is also handling Hans Pool’s Highway of Tears (50’), which investigates the ongoing disappearance, since the 1970s, of dozens of indigenous women along the notorious highway in Canada. Hans Pool directed the highly acclaimed Submarine-produced Bellingcat – Truth in the Post-Truth World, which world-premiered at IDFA in 2018.
“At the beginning of the lockdown, everyone was confused and waiting to see what would happen,” explains sales manager Margaret Stanneveld of life in early 2020. “COVID-19 urged us to rethink the traditions of content business and come up with new solutions to strengthen our online presence and network. We’re diversifying into new markets to bring internationally relevant Dutch stories to the world.”
The company had a lot of success with the Dutch documentary Dance or Die, which tells the story of a gay dancer who escapes the war in Syria, arriving in Europe where he finds fame as a professional performer. He is reunited with his father in a refugee camp in Germany, a man who never accepted his son’s life choices. His father is forced to reappraise his boy, and consents to go and see him perform…
“Stories like that always keep people on the edge of their seat. Dutch filmmakers try to search for stories that go further. Sometimes they are ground-breaking or investigative. And we are always interested in other cultures and countries. That is what you will see in our films,” says Stanneveld.
Docs for Sale is just one of many international markets where Dutch CORE is to be found banging the drum for documentaries from the Netherlands. Other events include DOK Leipzig, Thessaloniki, Sunnyside of the Doc, both Mip markets, ATF in Singapore and Sheffield (in addition to other home markets such as IFFR and Cinekid).
At Docs for Sale 2020 Dutch CORE has a widened remit also to dispense expert online advice to the local Dutch production community (together with representatives of Eye International and the producers association) on production, sales and the internationalization of content.
“It is a double role at IDFA, but important in really representing the interests of Dutch documentary,” Stanneveld concludes.
