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English Titles D

Dusk

Original title: Schemer
Netherlands, 2010

Director: Smitsman, Hanro
Production company: Corrino Films
Co-producers: Lemming Film
Age recommendation: 15 years and up

Synopsis:
A journey through the minds of a group of high school friends whose particular chemistry will, ultimately, prove fatal. Jessie is a flirtatious, strong-headed and outspoken young woman, desperately in love with Rico who is in a relationship with Frauk. Leader of their high school gang is Caesar, who's the boyfriend of Jessie's best friend Ilse, but who also harbours a secret love for Jessie. The camera follows them by turns - each perspective shedding new light on a particular scene. This kaleidoscopic technique allows the spectator to witnesses how misunderstandings and lies proliferate as jealousy and personal hardship come to the fore. The delicate interplay of their individual - and sometimes contradictory — motives will lead to fatal collective action: the high school gang will plot the murder of one of its own members.

Comments:
Dusk is an ensemble film loosely based on events that shook the Dutch nation in the recent past. In 2003, sixteen-year-old Maja Bradaric was found dead in Nijmegen, near the German border. A year later, a group of her high school friends were found guilty of her murder. Dutch scriptwriter Anjet Daanje, together with director Hanro Smitsman, has used this fascinating story as inspiration for a philosophical enquiry into the roots of evil. Much more than a simple retelling of 'the facts' as we know them, Schemer is a film about the scapegoat mechanism and the impossibility of coming to a full understanding of the reasons behind such an act of cruelty.

Festivals:
Utrecht 2010 (awarded), San Sebastian 2010, Ghent 2010, Goa 2010, Vittorio Veneto 2011 (awarded), Stockholm Junior 2011, Kristiansand 2011, Zlin 2011, Ale Kino! Poznan 2011 (awarded)

Website: www.schemerdefilm.nl

World sales address/es:
Highpoint (GB)

Sold to:
Independet (NL)