Egg - Danniel Danniel

Original Dutch film title:
EI
Year:
1988
Length:
58 minutes

Tagline:
A baker who feels out of place in the world, gets acquainted with a woman from far away through letters.

Logline:
Johan de Bakker can bake bread, place an egg right-side up and can build a tower out of pebbles. His pen-pal from New Zealand then comes to visit him to meet him for the first time.

Synopsis:
Johan de Bakker knows how to bake bread. He knows how to place an egg right-side up, or how to build a nice tower out of the pebbles near the river. He joins in in dominoes, but does not dance. Together with his friends he follows the comings and goings of the inhabitants of his small village; he regularly goes to the village square where the bus stops a couple of times a day.
His friend Paul finds a contact advert in the paper for him and writes a letter. Thus begins the correspondence. Paul first writes and thinks up a letter, and later Johan dictates the letters himself.
One day, an unknown woman steps out of the bus. It is Eva, his pen-pal. She waits at his mothers until Johan returns home. He is 35 years old, but actually still a child says his mother. “Yes, all mothers say that”, responds Eva. A while after the fist acquaintance with Johan, Eva realises that he cannot read or write.
The next day he shows her around the bakery and the village. He is open and kind to her. “Don’t be afraid Eva”, he says. Will this be enough for her to stay?

Cast:
Johan Leysen (Johan)
Marijke Veugelers (Eva)
Jake Kruyer (Paul)
Coby Timp (Mother)
Peter Smits (Peter)
Piet Kamerman (Gerard)
Anneleun Schram (Marijke)
Magdaleen Jansen (wife of Paul)
Adri de Bruyn (Mailman)

Crew:
script & direction: Danniel Danniel
camera: Erik van Empel
light: Tom Erisman
art direction: Michal Shabtay
make-up: Mia De Jong
sound: Mark Glynne, Alex Booy
editing: Menno Boerema
sound post-production: Meta Sound
laboratory: Cineco
music: Michel Mulders
production manager: Stienette Bosklopper
producer: René Scholten

this film is a co-production of Studio Nieuwe Gronden with NOS televisie

this film is financially supported by:
Fonds voor de Nederlandse Film
CoBO-fonds

Awards:
Cannes Film Festival 1988: Official Selection “Quinzaine des Réalisateurs”, MJC Public Prize
Bergamo Film Festival 1988: C.I.C.A.E. Prize
Film Festival Figueira da Foz 1988: Best Short Film
Golden Gate Awards San Francisco 1989: Honorary mention
French Film Awards 1989: Honorary mention
Television-festival of Plovdiv 1988: The Golden Chest award