Lemming Film restructures as production slate ramps up (exclusive)

Leading Dutch independent production company Lemming Film has restructured, promoting producers Erik Glijnis and Tom van Blommestein to the new positions of head of film and head of TV series respectively.

The restructure comes as Lemming manages a busy development and production slate (see below for more details).

Glijnis has worked at Lemming since 2016 and has producing credits including Sweet Dreams, which premiered in Locarno in 2023 and was the Dutch Oscar candidate, Do Not Hesitate, Milk and Dead And Beautiful.

Van Blommestein joined Lemming in 2020 having formerly worked at NL Film and Endemol Shine. His credits include Zenith season 2, Floor Rules, Meet The Stockers and The Menten Case.

Lemming was set up in 1995 by CEO Leontine Petit. “As the founder and as someone still running the company, I felt a huge urge to work with very, very strong producers – and Erik and Tom are very strong,” Petit commented.

The company now employs 18 people. Charlotte van Weede was appointed managing director last December while Lemming joined forces with Dries Phylpo of Belgium’s A Private View to launch Lemming Belgium in 2021. Last October, German producer Julian Haisch also joined Lemming Film, working out of the Amsterdam office.

“We have more ambition than the work we can handle. This is a step we are taking to keep developing and to keep the company moving,” Glijnis commented on the new structure.

Slate details

Petit is at Toronto International Film Festival this week with new feature Mr K, a Kafka-esque tale about a travelling magician, played by Crispin Glover, stuck in a strange hotel. LevelK represents the title for worldwide sales.

Production is now almost complete on David Verbeek’s €5.3m feature The Wolf, The Fox And The Leopard, shot in Luxembourg, Croatia and Taiwan and about a young woman found living among wolves. Intriguingly, its cast includes renowned Japanese director Naomi Kawase in one of her first acting roles. Gusto is handling the Dutch release. LevelK is also handling sales on the film which is in English and Japanese and is expected to surface in early 2025.

Lemming is also producing Michiel ten Horn’s new comedy romance Any Other Night starring Gillian Jacobs and Marwan Kenzari. The Dutch-German-Canadian production is due to shoot early next year.

On the minority coproduction side, Lemming is partnering with Greek outfit Heretic on Miguel Angel Jimenéz’s The Birthday Party starring Willem Dafoe.

The Dutch outfit is a partner on new Brazilian movie The Secret Agent, a political thriller directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho and starring Wagner Moura.

On the German front, Lemming is part of the combo on Ido Fluk’s jazz-based movie Köln 75, sold by Bankside Films.

In the Nordics, Lemming is a Dutch partner on John Skoog’s Värn, majority produced by Swedish powerhouse Platform Produktion. Lemming is also working with Danish outfit Snowglobe on Beginnings, the new divorce drama from Jeanette Nordahl.

Meanwhile, in Latin America, the company is involved in Chocobar, the latest feature from Lucrecia Martel which is in post-production.

“We are looking for films that are daring, outspoken and from directors we love to work with,” Glijnis commented.

Lemming is one of the founding partners of indie alliance The Creatives, working alongside France’s Haut Et Court, Belgium’s Versus Production, Norway’s Maipo Film, Germany’s Razor Film, Israel’s Spiro, France’s Unité, the US’s Masha, Germany’s Komplizen and the UK’s Good Chaos to develop and fund film and TV together.

“Every Monday, we meet each other and have at least an hour to talk about different subjects,” Petit said of the collective, previously backed by Fremantle. “All of us know an enormous amount about international coproduction but also how to develop very high-quality stories both on the feature film side and the drama series side.”

Under van Blommestein’s watch, Lemming is also ramping up its slate of TV series with both VoD platforms and the public broadcasters. Two high-profile international projects are in development and shortly to be announced.

The company is making Bennie for RTL’s Dutch streaming service Videoland. Created by Barry Atsma and Karen Host Pellekaan, the series is billed as a light, heartwarming story about a family with a neurodiverse child. It is currently in post-production. Also in production is Tim Oliehoek’s drama Rust en Vreugd [Peace And Quiet], a comedy drama featuring characters brought together as gardeners with allotments.

Lemming is now planning a second and third series of hit medical drama Day And Night, based on a concept originally developed by Danish filmmaker Lone Scherfig and directed by Joram Lürsen.

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