Square Eyes - Geen koningen in ons bloed - still 2

Geen Koningen in ons Bloed / We will never be royals

A film by

the Netherlands | 40' | 12/2015 | fiction

They brush their teeth, eat with knife and fork and try to be friendly and honest. But what Tomas, a withdrawn seventeen-year-old, and his fiery sister Naomi would really like to get out of life, is hard to find in the tough world of Child Protection. In abruptly edited images that are alternately intimate and harsh, this drama captures the feeling of life in pause mode. After a dramatic incident they gradually realise what their most important source of support is. They will never be royals, but as brother and sister they have each other.

Mees Peijnenburg

Biography

Mees is a native from Amsterdam. In 2013 he graduated from the Netherlands Film Academy. His graduation film Even Cowboys Get to Cry was critically acclaimed and awarded several prices, it premiered at the Berlinale 2014. His short film ‘Un Creux Dans Mon Coeur’ is the Dutch representative at the Oscars 2016, category Best Live Action Short, and premiered at the Berlinale 2015. The most recent film he made, ‘We Will Never Be Royals’, won 2 Golden Calfs at the Netherlands Film Festival 2015.
His creative style experiments with different narrative forms, in which his distinct visual style is constant.

Filmography

  • Wij Waren Wolen / We Were Wolves – 2012 – 11’
  • Cowboys Janken Ook / Even Cowboys Get to Cry – 2013 – 20’
  • Bloedhond / Wild Dog – 2014 – 8’
  • Un Creux dans mon Coeur / A Hole In My Heart – 2014 – 9’
  • Geen Koningen in ons Bloed / We Will Never Be Royals – 2015 – 40
  • Paradise Drifter – 2020 – 90′
Square Eyes -

Crew

Director: Mees Peijnenburg
Screenplay: Bastiaan Kroeger & Mees Peijnenburg
Producer: Pupkin – Iris Otten, Sander van Meurs, Pieter Kuijpers
Cinematographer: Jasper Wolf
Sound: Taco Drijfhout
Editor: Imre Reutelingsperger
Production Design: Elza Kroonenberg
Styling: Minke Lunter
Make-up & Hair: Trudy Buren
Casting: Kemna Casting – Job Castelijn, Shanti Besseling
Executive Producer Sabine Smits
Junior Producer Layla Meijman
Eindredacteur VPRO: Joost de Wolf
Dramaturg VPRO: Marieke Mols
Omroep: NTR/VPRO/VARA
Cast: Jonas Smulders, Olivia Lonsdale, Malou Gorter, Rifka Lodeizen, Ali Ben Horsting, Willemien Slot, Teun Kuilboer

Festivals

  • Silhouette Film Festival, France (26 August – 3 September, 2016)
    Official Selection Won: Audience Award
  • 2ANNAS Film Festival, Latvia (27 September – 2 October, 2016)
    International Mid-length Competition
  • Konstanzer kurz.film.spiele, Germany (22 – 23 October, 2016)
    Official Competition Won: Audience Award
  • Cinema in Sneakers – Film Festival for Children & Youth, Poland (31 May – 11 June, 2017)
    Youth Short Film Competition
  • Guanajuato International Film Festival, Mexico (21 – 30 July, 2017)
  • Regards sur courts, France (7 – 10 September, 2017)
    Competition Special Mention
  • Konstanzer kurz.film.spiele, Germany (23 – 27 October. 2019)
    Best of 15 Years