Paula van der Oest’s ‘Love in a Bottle,’ starring James Krishna Floyd, Wraps Production (EXCLUSIVE)
Dutch filmmaker Paula van der Oest, director of Oscar-nominated “Zus & Zo,” has wrapped production on “Love in a Bottle,” starring James Krishna Floyd (“No Man’s Land”) and Hannah Hoekstra (“Hemel”).
The film follows two people in two different countries — both in quarantine during lockdown — who have a love affair through Facetime. Floyd plays a damaged British man who lives mainly through his computer who falls for a charismatic Dutch perfume maker (Hoekstra) whom he met at an airport just before the pandemic struck.
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“Love in a Bottle” was shot in two locations in Amsterdam during lockdown, and is one of the few films to shoot two locations simultaneously with two crews, in order to come together for one resulting film. Levitate Film (“The Forgotten Battle”) produced.
Van der Oest’s regular cinematographer Guido van Gennep lensed the film and employed new techniques in order to complete the project.
“We were literally shooting with these iPhones, looking at each other, interacting live as it were,” Floyd told Variety. “And then we’d have a GoPro on top of it. There were always different techniques. It was very technical and complicated, but it’s a very unusual movie.
“I don’t think anyone has probably seen anything like it, so we’ll see what people think of it,” Floyd added. “I love working with filmmakers like Paula who are fearless and just try something new.”
“This fresh and original movie celebrates love, music and intimacy,” said van der Oest. “It’s a sexy and moving feature film about love in times of COVID.”
Powerhouse indie Dutch distributor September Film, who released “Parasite” in the Netherlands, are planning a theatrical release in spring 2021.
Floyd won most promising newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards for “My Brother The Devil” (2012). He was also selected as a BAFTA Breakthrough Brit and won best actor at the Milan International Film Festival.
Hoekstra won best actress at the Nederlands Film Festival, the Rembrandt Awards and the SUBTITLE European Film Festival for “Hemel” (2012) and also at the Montréal World Film Festival and Nederlands Film Festival for “The Fury”(2016). At the 2017 Berlinale, she was chosen as one of European Film Promotion’s Shooting Stars.
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