''Îles flottantes'' (English: ''Floating Island'') is a 2001 Dutch

tragicomedy Tragicomedy is a literary genre that blends aspects of both tragedy, tragic and comedy, comic forms. Most often seen in drama, dramatic literature, the term can describe either a tragic play which contains enough comic elements to lighten the ov ...

film written for the screen and directed by Nanouk Leopold, in her

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many filmmakers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

, produced by Stienette Bosklopper. It stars

Maria Kraakman Maria Kraakman (born 5 August 1975) is a Dutch actress. She has been awarded the Golden Calf for Best Actress at the Netherlands Film Festival in 2005 and 2018, and the Theo d'Or theatre award for best leading actress in 2010 as well as for the ...

, Manja Topper,

Halina Reijn Halina Reijn (; born 10 November 1975) is a Dutch actress, writer and film director. Early life and education Halina Reijn was born on 10 November 1975 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Fleur ten Kate and Frank Volkert Reijn (1931–1986). Reijn's ...

, Leo Hogenboom and Gillis Biesheuvel, and it follows the dysfunctional lives of three best friends who all just turned thirty and struggle with giving meaning to their lives. The film is a stand-alone sequel to Leopold's graduation film, Weekend (1998). Îles flottantes was made as part of the No More Heroes, an initiative created by Motel Films and the

VPRO The VPRO (stylized vpro; originally an acronym for ''Vrijzinnig Protestantse Radio Omroep'', lit. 'Liberal Protestant Radio Broadcaster', nowadays known as ''Omroepvereniging VPRO'') is a Netherlands, Dutch Public broadcasting, public broadca ...

for upcoming filmmakers to create low-budget feature films in collaboration with the

Netherlands Film Fund The Netherlands Film Fund () is a subsidy funding, fund for Netherlands, Dutch film productions and was founded in 1993. The Netherlands Film Fund is itself mainly subsidized by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. In 2007, the tota ...

. The film was first shown at 2001's

International Film Festival Rotterdam International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused on independent and experimental films. The inaugural festival took place in June 1972, ...

, where it competed for the Tiger Award.

Plot

Cast

as Kaat * Manja Topper as Sacha *

as Isa * Leo Hogenboom as ARBO-man * Gillis Biesheuvel as Boris *

Jacob Derwig Jacob Derwig (The Hague, 15 July 1969) is a Dutch actor. Film and television He recently played roles in box-office hit Family Way (2012) (for which he won a Golden Calf), The Dinner (2013), Public Works (2015), and in the highly popular Dutc ...

as Peer * Leopold Witte as Max * Annemarie Prins as Grandmother * Aat Geelen as Gijs

Production

Nanouk Leopold during her last year of her studies realized she wanted to revisit the characters from her 1998's graduation film, ''Weekend'', and was approached by Circe Films and producer Stienette Bosklopper shortly after her graduation. Under the project's working title ‘Meisjes van dertig’ (girls from thirty), she was contacted by Motel Films and

for their No More Heroes project, an initiative for upcoming filmmakers to fund and create low-budget feature films with funding by the

. It was partially filmed in and around the street Leopold grew up in.

Release

Îles flottantes had its world premiere at the 2001's

, where it competed for the Tiger Award.

Reception

The film was received mostly positive by critics although they found the film fairly hermetic.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Iles Flottantes 2000s Dutch-language films 2001 films A-Film Distribution films Dutch comedy-drama films