Emma Joosten, Holly May Broad, Joep Badenburg and Barbara Slussen play the four Dutch lead roles in the historical epic Against the Wire, about the spaghetti riots in Twente in 1961. There is also a leading role by Italian actor Mehdi Meskar, distributor of September Film. and producer Nijenhuis also played a leading role. The company announced on Saturday.
Filming for the film, directed by Ben Sombogart, began last week in Lancashire, England. Antithesis tells of the forbidden love between a textile worker in Twente and an Italian immigrant, against the backdrop of tensions between Twente and Italian workers in the early 1960s.
In the United Kingdom, the heritage-listed Queen Street Mill Textile Museum is the last 19th-century steam-weaving mill in the world. After that, the recordings will continue, mainly in Twente. Registrations will continue until mid-May.
Sombogart previously told ANP that he sees similarities in the way people with different backgrounds are viewed then and now. “There are still a lot of Dutch people who immediately get defensive when someone speaks a different language or has different traditions,” said the director when announcing the project. “Just look at the protests in the Aztecs where Afghan refugees are being taken care of. As far as I’m concerned, Contrary tells a very objective story about accepting people who are different from you.”
The project is being developed by Nijenhuis & Co and Omroep MAX, the team that previously made the cinema hit De Beentjes van Sint-Hildegard. Sombogaart previously made De Storm and De Tweeling, which was nominated for an Academy Award. The screenplay was written by Jacqueline Ebskamp, who previously worked on such successful series as Divorce, Familie Kruys and Zwarte Tulp.
Distributor September will release the opposite film in cinemas next year.
