Bosnian-Dutch director Ena Sendijarević’s satire Candy Goals unfolds on a plantation within the Dutch East Indies that’s falling into decay in line with the crumbling of the Netherlands’ colonial energy.
Former Paul Verhoeven muse Renée Soutendijk heads the solid because the mistress of the home, who finds herself navigating the mounting chaos on her personal after her larger-than-life plantation boss husband dies abruptly.
The scenario takes an extra surprising flip when it’s revealed that he has left a part of his property to his illegitimate son with the housekeeper, performed by Indonesian mannequin Hayati Azis, who’s quiet parallel feminine pressure within the family.
On the face of it, the Netherlands’ Oscar entry Candy Goals marks a departure for Sendijarević, whose breakthrough quick Import and 2019 first characteristic Take Me Someplace Good tapped into her experiences rising up as a refugee after her household fled the conflict in Bosnia.
However Sendijarević says there’s continuity.
“Even when my earlier characteristic was set in Bosnia, it handled the themes of migration, displacement and identification, that are themes I’m addressing in Candy Goals as properly,” she informed an Worldwide Contenders panel on Saturday.
“I’ve grown up within the Netherlands and in Western Europe,” she added. “Colonialism is a really massive a part of its historical past. I needed to study extra about this historical past.”
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The filmmaker stated, nonetheless, that she didn’t need to make a standard interval drama.
“I didn’t need to look again in time and level with the finger and say, ‘These have been the darkish pages in historical past, and now we reside within the white pages of historical past.’ I needed extra like a surrealist bridge to the previous, utilizing a really up to date movie language.”
Soutendijk stated she was drawn to the manufacturing for Sendijarević’s unique, feminine gaze on this era of Dutch historical past.
“I used to be so intrigued by the script. It was so detailed in each means,” she stated. “She created this complete new world. Once we met and did the take a look at, it actually clicked. I used to be actually open to studying from her and her feminine look upon this time in historical past.”
Sendijarević’s interpretation has additionally gone down properly with native audiences.
Candy Goals has grossed greater than $700,000 since its late-Spetember launch, which is a good end result for an arthouse indie movie.
It additionally swept the board on the Netherlands Movie Pageant in October, successful its greatest Characteristic Movie, Director, Cinematography, Main Position for Soutendijk and Supporting Position for Florian Myjer.
“I believe it’s a heavy topic, however I believe it’s a playful movie,” Sendijarević advised when quizzed on the pic’s enchantment.
Verify again Monday for the panel video.
