04/21/2011

Nyncke Beekhuyzen to play Hanna Süskind in Dutch war drama

Nyncke Beekhuyzen will play the female lead in the compelling war drama SÜSKIND, directed by veteran director Rudolf van den Berg. She will take on the role of Hanna Süskind, Walter Süskind’s wife, played by Jeroen Spitzenberger. Beekhuyzen replaces Lotte Verbeek who had to quit the production because of ill health.  SÜSKIND tells the true story of Jewish resistance hero Walter Süskind who worked for the Jewish Council in Amsterdam during the Second World War. By playing a cat-and-mouse game with SS Hauptsturmführer Aus der Fünten – played by Karl Markovics (DIE FÄLSCHER) – he managed to save almost a thousand Jewish children from deportation. SÜSKIND is a production of Fu Works (WINTER IN WARTIME; BLACKBOOK) and Cadenza Films (TIRZA; SNAPSHOTS).

1942. In an attempt to save a group of Jewish children from deportation, Walter Süskind befriends the SS officer Ferdinand Aus der Fünten. When the latter discovers that Süskind has been using him and  their friendship is nothing but a lie, the Nazi ruthlessly takes his revenge on the Jew.

Last year, director Rudolf van den Berg’s film TIRZA – based on the best-selling novel by Arnon Grunberg – was the Dutch entry for the Academy Awards. Previously Van den Berg directed such critically acclaimed  films as LOOKING FOR EILEEN, BASTILLE, EVENINGS and FOR MY BABY. Van den Berg about Beekhuyzen: “I am very happy she will play the role of Hanna. In LOTTE she has shown to be a young and new talent, which I predict to have a great future as an actress.”

Nyncke Beekhuyzen (1980) is well known for her leading role in the TV series LOTTE. She also played in VERBORGEN GEBREKEN, SPOORLOOS VERDWENEN, SPRINT, HET WOEDEN DER GEHELE WERELD, GEBROKEN ROOD and is regularly seen in the theater. Besides Jeroen Spitzenberger and Karl Markovics, other major roles are played by Tygo Gernandt, Nasrdin Dchar, Katja Herbers, Chava Voor in 't Holt and Olga Zuiderhoek.

San Fu Maltha (Fu Works), Jeroen Koolbergen (Cadenza Films) and Reinier Selen are producing the film in a co-production with Dutch broadcaster VARA. Executive producer is Pierre Spengler. The film is supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the Dutch Film Fund and CoBO. In addition, the film is financed by MyM (Make Your Movie) and U-Media. Shooting started on April 4th and takes place in the Netherlands, Belgium and Romania.