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Malaise is the order of the day in Dutch-Bosnian writer-director Ena Sendijarević’s costume drama Sweet Dreams. Set in the Dutch East Indies at the dawn of the 20th century, the film captures the putrefaction of colonial rule with a morbid sense of humor. But for a work that’s all about boredom, Sweet Dreams is far from boring.

It’s the suspicious demise of Dutch sugar plantation owner Jan (Hans Dagelet) that sets the plot in motion. Agathe (Renée Soutendijk), the man’s profoundly cynical widow, writes to their son, Cornelis (Florian Myjer), telling him to return from the Netherlands to take over the estate. But when Cornelis and his pregnant wife, Josefien (Lisa Zweerman), arrive, it turns out that Jan has left everything to Karel (Rio Kak Den Haas), the progeny of his unconcealed liaisons with the family’s domestic servant, Siti (Hayati Azis). If Cornelis and Josefien...

Ena Sendijarević’s “Sweet Dreams,” Netherlands’ submission in the Academy Awards international feature category, has secured North American distribution via Dekanalog.

The film had its world premiere at Locarno, where it won the Pardo for best performance for Renée Soutendijk (“Suspiria”) and the second prize of the junior jury. The film debuted in North America in Toronto’s Centrepiece section and won the Silver Hugo new directors award at Chicago. It opened the Nederlands Film Festival, where it won another six awards, including best film, best director and best leading role.

Set on a remote Indonesian island, “Sweet Dreams” explores the final days of European colonialism. It follows Dutch sugar plantation owner Jan and his wife Agathe, who are at the top of the food chain. Jan, upon returning from his nightly visit to his native concubine Siti, suddenly drops dead in front of his wife. Desperate to keep the privileges of her status quo,...

The Netherlands has selected its acclaimed Dutch drama film, ‘Sweet Dreams’ by director Ena Sendijarevic, as its official entry, in the International Feature category for the 96th Academy Awards, in 2024. The film had its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival in August, winning the film’s actress Renee Soutendijk a best performance award. In addition, ‘Sweet Dreams’ is also set to get its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, according to Hollywood Reporter.

According to the film’s description, ‘Sweet Dreams’ is a dark humour based satire which is very ‘unforgiving’ in its take on European colonialism, showcasing how the lavish aesthetics and majestic lifestyle of colonial Europe soon came to a bitter end, and how its power and standard was reduced.

The synopsis reads: “On an Indonesian island, 1900, Dutch sugar plantation owner Jan and his wife, Agathe, are at the top of the food chain.

The Netherlands has selected Ena Sendijarević’s Sweet Dreams as its official entry in the international feature film race at the 2024 Oscars.

The film had its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival in August, winning Dutch actress Renée Soutendijk a best performance award. It will get its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

“The film combines unforgiving satire with lavish aesthetics in an audacious tale of the tragic and delicious demise of European colonialism,” according to a description. “On an Indonesian island, 1900, Dutch sugar plantation owner Jan and his wife, Agathe, are at the top of the food chain. Until Jan upon returning from his nightly visit to his native concubine Siti, suddenly drops dead. To keep her status quo, Agathe forces her son Cornelis and his pregnant wife Josefien to travel from Europe and take over the family business. In the midst of a worker’s uprising,...

As Leo Tolstoy wrote, all happy families are alike, while each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. The rich cry too and there is something universal about the rivalries between the loved and the unloved wives, sons and heirs, regardless of their social status. So, why would the family of the sugar plantation owners in the Dutch East Indies in Ena Sendijarević's sophomore feature “Sweet Dreams” be any different? The film has just world-premiered at Locarno, where we also caught it.

Sweet Dreams is screening in Locarno Film Festival

Somewhere in Indonesia in the early 1900s, Jan (Hans Dagelet) owns the plantation and the sugar processing plant and rules it with an iron fist. He is no softer even at home, where he commands over his seemingly blasée European wife Agathe (Renée Soutendijk) and his Indonesian housekeeper-lover-concubine Siti (Hayati Azis), while the two battle one another, each...

Heretic has acquired world sales rights to “Sweet Dreams,” the sophomore feature from award-winning Bosnian Dutch director Ena Sendijarević (“Take Me Somewhere Nice”).

Set on a remote Indonesian island during the waning days of the colonial era, the film centers on Dutch sugar plantation owner Jan and his wife, Agathe, who are at the top of the food chain. That is, until Jan, upon returning from his nightly visit to his native concubine, Siti, suddenly drops dead in front of his wife.

Desperate to keep the privileges of her status quo, Agathe forces her estranged son Cornelis and his heavily pregnant wife, Josefien, to travel from Europe and take over the family business. In the midst of a workers’ uprising, Cornelis displays his plans for progressive change. But when Jan’s will puts Siti at the forefront of the family estate, ideals prove to be idle and blood thicker than water.