KEYFILM
The netherlands
COMPANY PROFILE
KeyFilm develops and produces feature films and drama series in close collaboration with writers and directors for all platforms in a variety of genres for multiple audiences. From accessible art house to mainstream films and series for the national and international market, with a focus on intelligent, character-driven stories.
Founder Hanneke Niens is an Oscar-nominated producer (Best International Film for TWIN SISTERS, 2004) and teams up with partners like ITVS, Eurimages, the British Film Institute, Al Jazeera, Netflix, RTL, and many European broadcasters, funds, distributors, and sales agents. She is a strong believer in cinema as a result of teamwork, starting with the triangle producer-writer-director. Niens (co-)produced over 20 drama series and 40 feature films.
International festival selections are Nena by Saskia Diesing, winning the Berlinale Special Mention Jury Award 2015, IFFR 2016 opening film Beyond Sleep by Boudewijn Koole, the Toronto selected film and Palestine Oscar submission The Idol by double Oscar-nominated director Hany Abu-Assad, The Reports on Sarah and Saleem by Rami and Muayad Alayan, awarded with the Tiger Award Best Scenario and the HBF Jury Award IFFR 2018 and the closing film of Venice Critic’s Week 2022 Queens by French-Moroccan filmmaker Yasmine Benkiran.
Several (inter)national awards were received such as an Emmy for The Chosen One, the Prix Europa for Cloaca as well as for The Chosen One, and a series of Golden Calf nominations for Best Film of the Year, which Twin Sisters won. The two-season drama series Swanenburg won the NPO Award for most streamed series in 2021.
Box office successes are the feel-good trilogy Soof, Soof 2, and Soof 3 (three times highest-grossing Dutch film of the year), the tragic comedy Ventoux, the comedy Sow What is Love, and the war drama Line of Fire.
COMPANY HIGHLIGHTS
LINE OF FIRE 2023
Genre: Drama
Director: Roel Reiné
Screenplay: Alex van Galen
Cast: Waldemar Torenstra, Sallie Harmsen, Jeroen Spitzenberger, Angela Schijf, Pierre Bokma, Huub Stapel, Tibor Lukács, Zouhair Mtazi
On his tour of duty in Afghanistan, Marco Kroon heroically leads his men through firefights and is awarded the highest decoration in the Netherlands: the Military Order of William. However, in the years that follow, Kroon is discredited. He struggles with traumas he cannot share even with Mirjam, the love of his life and everyone has an opinion about him, in the media and in the street. Kroon finds himself swept up in an emotional rollercoaster. As he tries to exonerate himself, he may face his toughest mission yet.
Box office hit - ‘Golden Film’ in the Netherlands
THE REPORTS ON SARAH AND SALEEM 2018
Genre: Drama (coproduction the Netherlands, Palestine, Germany and Mexico)
Director: Muayad Alayan
Screenplay: Rami Alayan
Cast: Adeeb Safadi, Sivane Kretchner, Ishai Golan, Maisa Abd Elhadi
An extramarital affair in Jerusalem ignites a dangerous game of deceit between those who hold power and those who don’t.
IFFR Tiger Award Best Scenario 2018, HBF Jury Award 2018
LOST TRANSPORT 2023
Genre: Post-war drama (co-production in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Germany)
Director: Saskia Diesing
Screenplay: Saskia Diesing
Cast: Hanna van Vliet, Anna Bachmann, Eugénie Anselin
In the spring of 1945 a train deporting hundreds of Jewish prisoners gets stranded near a small German village occupied by the Red Army. Condemned to each other and in a context of deep mistrust, desperation and revenge, an unexpected friendship emerges between Russian sniper Vera, village girl Winnie, and Jewish-Dutch woman Simone.
QUEENS 2022
Genre: Drama/Adventure (co-production in the Netherlands, France, Morocco, and Belgium)
Director: Yasmine Benkiran
Screenplay: Yasmine Benkiran
Cast: Nisrin Erradi, Nisrine Benchara, Rayhan Guaran
A trio of women with the police on their tail embarks on a long escape that takes them across the rugged red terrain and flower-filled valleys of the Atlas to finally reach the Atlantic coast.
Filmfestival Venice (closing film Settimana Internazionale della Critica)