Berlin-based M-Appeal has picked up international sales rights to Dutch director Michiel van Erp’s “Downtown,” which it will launch at the Cannes Film Market next month. The film is described as an “homage to the liberating nightlife that offered a sense of paradise to many young men in the 1980s.”
The film pulls the audience onto the dance floor of the hedonistic nightclub Downtown in Amsterdam, where Ronnie and Lennart spend most of their nights. Ronnie sets the mood from the DJ booth, while Lennart owns the dance floor and catches the eye of many men, but only one truly catches his: 20-year-old artist Bas. As the three of them begin planning their future, more and more regulars start to vanish from Downtown. Over time, the atmosphere in the local paradise changes, and with it, the relationship between the three young men.
The script is by Frank Houtappels.
In “Downtown,” Van Erp portrays the vibrant community he once was a part of. “With the unique, buzzing Downtown nightclub, where people danced on the volcano in the 80s, I primarily wanted to make a film about friendship and solidarity,” van Erp said. “The community I found myself in as a young twenty-something was overwhelming. I made friends for life, and together we could take on the world. But the film is also about the loss of your innocence and the loss of friends. By placing the story in the present as well, it gains a different perspective. It is important to know your history, if only to share the pain and look to the future together. Friendship and personal growth are very important themes in my work.”
Maren Kroymann, managing director of M-Appeal, said, “The film’s visual and emotional richness, combined with Michiel van Erp’s ability to capture a universal sense of nostalgia, allows ‘Downtown’ to resonate with audiences worldwide. It is a deeply human story about unity and love, expressed through the intensity of friendship and chosen family, with underlying truths that make it a must-see.”
“Downtown” features some of the Netherlands’ leading actors, including Yorick van Wageningen, Hans Kesting and Roeland Fernhout.
It is produced by Dutch producers Maarten Swart of Kaap Holland Film, and Van Erp and Monique Busman of Het Familiedrama.
“The story is told with great power. It’s brilliant to see how Van Erp brings the vibrant nightlife of the 1980s to life on the big screen. The actors are simply stunning,” Busman and Swart said.
This marks the second partnership between M-Appeal and Kaap Holland Film following Marcelo Caetano’s “Baby,” which premiered at Cannes Critics’ Week in 2024.
“Downtown” was produced by Kaap Holland Film and Het Familiedrama, in co-production with Eyeworks Film & TV and BNNVARA, with the support of the Netherlands Film Fund and the Netherlands Production Incentive, CoBo Fund, the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) and the Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government.
This is Van Erp’s fourth feature film, following years of work in television and documentaries, during which he directed, among other projects, the series “Ramses.”
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