21st Annual European Union Film Festival
- Tonio
- Netherlands2016
- Paula van der Oest
- 100 DCP
- NR
- EUFF 2018
Screening Dates
- November 25, 2018 4:30
“Ambitious … A frequently intense and stirring drama.”
Boyd van Hoeij, The Hollywood Reporter
The agony of losing a child is handled with sensitivity and formal sophistication in Oscar-nominated Dutch director Paula van der Oest’s moving, impressionistic drama. Based on eminent author Adri van der Heijden’s memoir of surviving the death of his adult son, the film employs a fragmented, non-linear approach to reflect the destabilizing, psyche-shattering effects of trauma. The story, told through a prism of time-skipping memories, is of the grief two parents experience when their 21-year-old son is fatally struck by a motorist one night. Tonio is van der Oest’s third feature to be submitted for the foreign-language Oscar race—2001’s Zus & Zo was nominated; 2014’s Accused made the shortlist—cementing her reputation as one of Netherland’s preeminent directors.