The Australian film industry is already buzzing with the excitement that precedes the Sydney Film Festival each year.
Amongst the many talented filmmakers from all over the world who hope to showcase their movies is Eva Knoet who plans to bring her first feature, White Clouds, an exciting new Dutch film, to the festival.
Dutch-born Knoet was educated in Australia, and is aiming to conquer the global film industry through the works of her company, Plucky Penguin Pictures.
The company’s first international client collaboration has resulted in production of its first feature, White Clouds (Witte Wolken).
“The film examines human grief. It follows three protagonists who all lose a loved one and deal with this loss in different ways,” Knoet says, without giving away too much of the plot.
Plucky Penguin Pictures provides video and photography for businesses, helping them to present themselves visually to their potential clients.
But what began as a way to use her film/photography skills to earn some money has developed into much more with White Clouds.
Honing the subject matter over and over – and through numerous drafts of the screenplay – pre-production started half way through October and shooting began on November 13 last year.
Knoet wrote, directed and produced the film and gathered a crew and cast of volunteers to work on it.
In fact, all the location holders have helped the film on a voluntary basis and many of the props – from a coffin to flowers and squash rackets – were either donated or loaned out to the film.
“We are working hard to have the film ready for a premiere at the end of February 2013 and hope to get a national cinema release. We will also send it to film festivals internationally,” Knoet said.
Her time in Australia as a student and her volunteer work at the London 2012 Olympic Games gave birth to the story that underpins this movie.
The Dutch filmmaker attributes her success and motivation for the movie on her Master in Film Studies degree at the University of Sydney.
She said the broad scope of the degree allowed her to explore new themes and produce many short movies, among them Symphonica d’Aqua, which shared the Audience Award at the 2009 University of Sydney Student Union Short Film Competition.
But her professional journey has reached new heights since then, adding another feather in her cap with her recent admission into the Directing Actors program in Amsterdam. She has also started work on a new screenplay that is partly set in Australia.
And while 2012 has undoubtedly been a good year, she hopes to top that success and bring White Clouds to Australia this year for the Sydney Film Festival.
