Archive of films Off Screen / Off Screen

Netherlands
2005, 86 min

Section: Focus on the Netherlands
Year: 2008

A middle-aged man takes several people hostage in a tall building. His aim is to bring attention to a conspiracy relating to secret codes transmitted via widescreen television... This unsettling psychological thriller was inspired by real events which shocked Amsterdam six years ago.

Synopsis

A 59-year-old bus driver who loses both his job and his wife after more than thirty years together, arms himself with a weapon and takes a security guard hostage in the entrance hall of an office building known as the Rembrandt Tower. He only has one demand: he wants to speak to the managing director of Philips, which used to rent office space in the Tower, the highest building in Amsterdam. The aggressor is convinced he has uncovered a major conspiracy involving secret codes which are transmitted via widescreen television... This disturbing psychological thriller, reflecting upon the issues of television manipulation and brainwashing, is interwoven with flashbacks from the assailant’s past which hover between reality and paranoia. A drama about a “man who knew too much”, the film won several awards at festivals in Montreal, Porto and Philadelphia and was inspired by real events which, on 11 March 2002 – exactly six months after the attacks on the WTC – shocked the city of Amsterdam.

About the director

Pieter Kuijpers (b. 1968, Tegelen) studied at Leiden University. A director, screenwriter and producer, he first made his name with the short horror film Darkling (1995). He also directed several TV series, spots and commercials. He debuted on the big screen in 2003 with the crime drama Godforsaken (Van God Los), which won three Golden Calf awards at the Netherlands Film Festival (Pieter Kuijpers took away two awards, for Best Director and Best Screenplay). After the psychological thriller Off Screen (2005) he made the adventure story for children De Griezelbus that same year, awarded at several festivals, and the crime comedy Dennis P. (2007). The box-office hit thriller Nothing to Lose (TBS, 2008) won the Jury Prize at the Philadelphia Film Festival.

Contacts

EYE Film Institute Netherlands
IJpromenade 1, 1031 KT, Amsterdam
Netherlands
Tel: +31 207582375
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.see-nl.com

Cinemavault
175 Bloor St.East, South Tower, Suite 1011, M4W 3R8, Toronto
Canada
Tel: +1 416 363 606 0
Fax: +1 416 363 230 5
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.cinemavault.com

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About the film

Color, 35 mm

Section:	Focus on the Netherlands

Director:	Pieter Kuijpers
Screenplay:	Hugo Heinen
Dir. of Photography:	Bert Pot nsc
Music:	Portrait II
Editor:	Job ter Burg
Producer:	Reinier Selen, Edwin van Meurs
Production:	Rinkel Film and TV Productions BV
Cast:	Jeroen Krabbé, Jan Decleir, Astrid Joosten
Contact:	EYE Film Institute Netherlands, Cinemavault

www:	www.offscreendefilm.nl

Guests

Claudia Landsberger

Distributor, Film Institution Rep.