Dutch film misses out on Oscar

1 March 2004

AMSTERDAM — The Dutch film De Tweeling (Twin Sisters) missed out on winning an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category in Hollywood on Sunday night. Canadian film The Barbarian Invasions took the Academy Award home.

And other Dutch Academy Awards nominations — costume designer Dien van Straalen (Girl With a Pearl Earring), plus art director Ben van Vos and set decorator Cecile Heideman (Girl With a Pearl Earring) — also missed out at the gala celebrity event.

Directed by Ben Sombogaart, the film Twin Sisters was considered a strong chance to win its category and join three other Dutch films to have won the best foreign language film category.

Previous Dutch winners were the 1997 production Karakter (Character) by director Mike van Diem, the 1995 film Antonia (Antonia’s Line) from Marleen Gorris and 1986’s De Aanslag (The Assault) by Fons Rademakers.

Sombogaart was disappointed by the result: “It is a terrible pity. At the time when you find out that you have not won, you are disappointed”, news agency ANP reported.

“But we don’t feel that we lost. The nomination itself was already of exceptional value. Also, it was not a surprise that the Oscar went to the Canadian film. That was already predicted in every survey,” he said.

And the publicity that the film has attracted due to the Oscar nomination has ensured that the film will be released in its original form on the US market. The film will be released in the US in August or September, Sombogaart said.

The film tells the story of twin sisters who are separated in Germany in the 1920s following the death of their parents. One sister is raised by a well-to-do aunt in the Netherlands, while the other grows up in difficult circumstances on a German farm owned by an uncle.

Meanwhile, Peter Jackson’s The Return of the King (the third edition to the Lord of the Rings trilogy) won 11 Oscars, including Best Picture at the 76th annual Academy Awards ceremony.

Other winners were Sean Penn (Best Actor) for the film Mystic River and Charlize Theron (Best Actress) for Monster. Tim Robbins was awarded the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (Mystic River) and Renée Zellweger was named Best Supporting Actress for Cold Mountain.

Subject: Dutch news