Makers
Andrew van der Ven
Writer and Director
In 2011, Andrew moved to Brussels where he attended film school at the LUCA School of Arts. After film school, Andrew went to study film at Leiden University and Utrecht University in The Netherlands. Over the years, he made several short films and he worked on commercial video projects.
I always wanted to make a road movie. But not the standard let’s-get-outta-here one. I wanted it to have something special, something unexpected. It must contain a mysterious element, especially that. I wanted that not only the characters would go on an adventure, but that the audience would also engage in the unraveling of the mystery. That’s how Sunny Juliette came into existence.
During the very first stage of script development, the two lead characters where a man and a woman. They where both traveling thru Europe after the women in the first instance tried to steal the man’s car. But when I read the finished screenplay for the first time, I was pretty disappointed. The story wasn’t as thrilling as I expected it to be. I started adding some new elements and removing lots of scènes. At some point, I was quite irritated about the fact that there are so few full-fledged female characters in the film industry. Think about it: how many truly leading, female characters can you name? One or two? A female driven cast can push the story into another, more interesting direction I thought. So I changed my own characters: why not make a story about two women traveling thru Europe? Finally, I added a cold-case to make things even more interesting.
The most important lesson this production has taught me is that it is in fact possible to tell a compelling story with limited resources. We didn’t had a lot of money, we didn’t had fancy high-end camera equipment. But this team has talent, passion and perseverance. In the end, movies are made by people.
I hope to surprise the audience with an exciting and original thriller. It is okay if the viewer still has some unanswered questions at the end of the film. Sunny Juliette is part of a series of three films that share te same ‘cinematic universe’. I am currently working on the screenplay of the next feature: Senja. Being a filmmaker is not an easy road to travel. I had to sacrifice a lot for this job, maybe even more than I would have liked. But this is the most beautiful job in the world and it is worth the suffer. I can’t wait to present the new episodes of the Sunny Juliette trilogy!
Mitchell van Vuren
Scenario
“I have always been involved in the creative process of lmmaking. I have written a dozen scenarios over the past years. The reason I said ‘yes’ to this project is the great challenge: I was given the opportunity to work on a great feature lm production.“
Mitchell van Vuren attended Film and Literary studies at Leiden University. He wrote
several films during his career. His most recent film Wildvreemde (Stranger) premièred in 2018. Mitchell’s aim is to work on a new film project every year or so. He is currently writing the screenplay for his newest film.
Elmar ten Kate
Cinematography
“What makes a good shot is difficult to express in words. It is a certain feeling that you are looking for. A certain atmosphere. You have to consider carefully where you place the camera, but almost immediately you see all sorts of other possibilities. In the case of Sunny Juliette we have tried to capture the “mystery”.“
Elmar ten Kate has worked on several film projects over the years. He and Andrew are working together for over a decade now on both artistic and commercial visual productions. Elmar is currently working on exciting new artistic projects.
All makers
With: Aad van den Heuvel, Marloes ten Kate, Tamara Bosma and Arlette van de Kamp
Camera: Lisanne Hoogerwerf
Editing: Bernd Kruyt
Sound Design: Yorick Sedee
Music: Auke de Vringer
Sound: Benno van Rijt, Jefri Tangkau en Boudewijn Buitenhek
Editor: Gino Spangenberg
Production: Didi Spaans, Marit Voskuil, Paul de Raadt, Marvin de Vries and Andrew van der Ven
Executive producer: Tim van der Ven
Casting: Stefan de Vries
