"When I do a project I think it's very important to find a perfect balance," says Dennis Bots, acclaimed Dutch director of films for younger audiences, such as Cool Kids Don't Cry (2012) and Secrets of War (2014). "It's essential to have a very strong and driving plot that carries the audience from the beginning of the film right to the end, but I also think it is very important to tell things to children, to give a sense of meaningfulness that it isn't just entertainment."

Bots achieves this with great aplomb in Angel, produced by Danielle Raaphorst (Incredible Film) and supported by the Netherlands Film Fund, about a young girl who finds a magical watch that can grant her any wish. Inevitably, when her class mates find out about her new found power, she becomes the most popular girl in the school. But this comes at a price as she loses her BFF (Charlie) in the process. Angel must therefore decide which is more important, popularity or true friendship.

The film stars Barry Atsma and Isa Hoes as the parents, but it's the kids who steal the show, especially Liz Vergeer (Angel), Mila van Groeningen (Charlie) and Luca Orlando as Willem, the boy from the other side of the tracks who comes good at the end.

"One of the most important things is to get the casting just right, and then I really like to challenge them into great acting. I like to push their limits," says Bots. "With this film I was very happy. Liz (Angel) is already quite experienced but this was her first main character. She is very talented, original and authentic and there is a lot of subtle play in her work. Mila (Charlie) is the best friend of Liz in real life. That can be difficult on set but I tried it out in rehearsals and it worked marvellously, and it offers another dimension in that they already know and understand each other. For Luca, Willem was his first role. I had to really push him to be the bad guy as that's not really his character, but he performed the role really well."

Bots points out that he works with test teams of kids at all stages of the film process, from script to edit, in order to guarantee that he is delivering on their level. He also cites films from his youth as influences, such as Stand By Me, ET and The Neverending Story. In the case of Angel, the film that "popped up" early in Bots' deliberations was Danny de Vito's Matilda, "a beautiful fantasy told form a girl's perspective."

Production on the film came to a grinding halt in March 2020 with five shooting days (a full quarter of the film) still to complete. Bots and producer Raaphorst had to go into overdrive to find solutions to the Covid-induced problem. "It was not a headache, but a major challenge," says the director. "The first thing I did was to go back to the script and to find ways to do the same scenes, but with the right social distancing."

Class scenes were therefore moved to the gym to provide adequate spacing. Natural bubble partnerships were used, such as siblings showing together in the frame. Glass screens were placed between actors and subsequently edited out, and much of the camera work was done by remote control. "The DoP could pan tilt and focus without him being actually present in the scene," says Bots. "And we made smart amendments to the script to make it controllable and workable."

What Bots was absolutely determined to do, and this was very much a nod to the 80's vibe, was to produce many of the special effects on set in real-time, such as the lovely sequence early in the film when Angel orders her clothes to tidy themselves within her room, á la Mary Poppins.

"This is not computer-generated. When the clothes are flying through the air they really are clothes on strings - we just removed the strings in post afterwards!"