Still: The Birthday Party - Miguel Ángel Jiménez

“I think it suits the Piazza Grande really well,” Lemming’s Erik Glijnis says of Miguel Ángel Jiménez’s The Birthday Party, a lavish movie set among the 1970s international jet set and which will be receiving its world premiere in Locarno’s spectacular open-air square before an audience of several thousand spectators. 

The film stars Willem Dafoe (Poor Things) as an Aristotle Onassis-like Greek tycoon throwing a huge celebration for his beautiful young daughter on his own private island. 

“It has some comedic elements but it’s really a drama. It’s a film about a ruthless multi-millionaire who is in charge of a business empire and has a grip on everything in the world…apart from his own family,”

Glijnis, who co-produced alongside Leontine Petit for Lemming, explains the film’s key themes. “It’s a very contemporary film which deals with power relations.”

An ambitious international co-production shot in Corfu and mainland Greece last summer, this is also a movie with a strong Dutch influence.

“We had a big team from the Netherlands,” Glijnis says of the key Dutch crew on the film, including production designer Myrtle Beltman, art director Dana Horeman, make-up department head Evalotte Oosterop (who also oversaw the wigs) and make-up artists Floor Fennis and Iris Bosman. Paradiso came on board as Benelux distributor at an early stage and Dirk De Lille is an executive producer.

The film was put together as a Greek-Dutch-Spanish-UK co-production and has Netherlands Film Fund support. The sound design and image grading were also overseen by Dutch technicians. 

Lemming’s relationship with Heretic, the Athens-based production and sales powerhouse, stretches back to 2019 when they worked together on Shariff Korver’s war thriller Do Not Hesitate, shot in Crete.  Since then, the two companies have collaborated on such projects as Swimming Home and Sweet Dreams (which Heretic sold). Heretic is sharing sales duties on The Birthday Party with UK outfit Bankside.

“We have an ongoing relationship based on trust and shared taste,” the Lemming exec adds of Heretic, a company that he considers as “family.” Glijnis also agrees that the Greeks and the Dutch combine well together. “They [the Greeks] are really hard workers. The production company [Heretic] are a bit like us, quite direct, no nonsense. I would say that the Greek culture is a bit more masculine than the Dutch culture, still also in the film industry. That links to The Birthday Party which is a very masculine film, but also somehow about the downfall of such a male-dominated [world]. I think that was what was very interesting about the project - it was coming from that very masculine origin and we were bringing female heads of department.”

Working long days in high summer on sweltering locations in Greece was tough. Temperatures were often above 40 degrees. Nonetheless, the Dutch crew members “really blended in well. It was a pleasant collaboration although it was harsh conditions to shoot in.”

A Benelux release date is yet to be set. One possibility is that the film will surface at International Film Festival Rotterdam or at a major Belgian festival. First, though, Glijnis points out, Lemming and Paradiso will wait to see what happens to the film in North America.

Lemming has long been acknowledged as among the most experienced and adventurous Dutch production outfits. Alongside its own movies, for example last year’s TIFF hit Mr. K or the sweeping historical epic Sweet Dreams (which premiered in Locarno), the company has worked frequently as a minority co-producer on projects from leading international auteurs. For instance, it was the Dutch partner on Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho’s recent Cannes competition entry, The Secret Agent.

Generally, Lemming will have “one captain” on a co-production. On The Birthday Party, Glijnis and young producer Julian Haisch were both heavily involved - and were able to draw on Petit’s knowledge and expertise. Twenty-eight producers are listed on the credits of the movie, but Glijnis points out many of these are investors or executives from the sales companies.

“It was a big team and it was a difficult ship to navigate but the Greek producers were in the lead and we were following to make it work.”

Other Lemming co-productions are expected to surface at major festivals later in the year. Nuestra Tierra by Lucrecia Martel has already been selected for Out of Competition in Venice. Meanwhile, shooting should begin soon on the Simon Bird comedy Pretend I’m Not Here, starring Sally Hawkins, Matthew Broderick and Martin Freeman. “We have exciting projects at different stages.”

Glijnis agrees that the international profile of Dutch cinema in general is fast-rising, with films now regularly being selected (and often winning prizes) at major festivals. “We are getting in good shape…it will be great for the overall industry if we maintain momentum and actually build on it,” he concludes.

The Birthday Party is directed by Miguel Angel Jiménez and produced by Athens-based Heretic, in co-production with Lemming Film (Netherlands), Fasten Films (Spain), and Rowdy Entertainment (UK). International sales are handled jointly by Heretic and UK-based Bankside Films.