The Netherlands has selected Ena Sendijarević’s Sweet Dreams as its official entry in the international feature film race at the 2024 Oscars.
The film had its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival in August, winning Dutch actress Renée Soutendijk a best performance award. It will get its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
“The film combines unforgiving satire with lavish aesthetics in an audacious tale of the tragic and delicious demise of European colonialism,” according to a description. “On an Indonesian island, 1900, Dutch sugar plantation owner Jan and his wife, Agathe, are at the top of the food chain. Until Jan upon returning from his nightly visit to his native concubine Siti, suddenly drops dead. To keep her status quo, Agathe forces her son Cornelis and his pregnant wife Josefien to travel from Europe and take over the family business. In the midst of a worker’s uprising, Cornelis displays his plans for progressive change. But when Jan’s will puts Siti at the forefront of the family estate, ideals prove to be idle and blood thicker than water.”
Sendijarević’s debut feature was Take Me Somewhere Nice in 2019. “What an honor and joy for Sweet Dreams to be chosen as the official Dutch selection for the Academy Awards,” said the filmmaker. “In this film, I wanted to look at the demise of the Dutch colonial era through a satirical lens. I’m very happy with the support and the visibility it will create for our film and its subject.”
Sweet Dreams was produced by Dutch firm Lemming Film in co-production with Sweden’s Plattform Produktion, Sweden’s Film Ï Vast (SE) and Indonesia’s Talamedia (ID) in collaboration with TikTak Productions and broadcaster VPRO in the Netherlands. The film is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund, Netherlands Film Production Incentive, CoBo Fund, Swedish Film Institute, La Region Reunion, CNC Tax Rebate International Productions and Creative Europe Media. Heretic is handling international sales.
The Netherlands has won the best international feature Oscar, previously called the Best Foreign-language film honor, three times and been nominated another four times. Its last win came for Mike van Diem’s 1997 movie Character.
