Mischief (2010)

Directed by: Nova van Dijk | 10 minutes | short film | Actors: Michiel Bijmans, Eric van der Donk

You might know Nova van Dijk as a presenter of various TV programs. She has also acted in soap operas (‘Gold Coast’), drama and comedy series. You might also know her as the daughter of Bill ‘Cyrano’ van Dijk, the famous musical star. But multi-talented Nova turns out to be able to do much more. She is making good progress as a painter and for several years now she has also been a film director. In 2009 she made the documentary ‘Arie Kater, the hangover comes later’, about her maternal grandfather, painter/drawer Arie Kater. Coincidence or not, but also in her short film ‘Kattenkwaad’ (2010) – her first fiction film that she made together with the talented, starting producer Keren Cogan – hangovers play an important role. The film was recently chosen as the Dutch entry for the Oscar for best short film.

The main character in ‘Mischief’ is Jonas, a quirky boy who takes cats off the street, locks them in his house and waits for their owners to look for them. As soon as a reward is offered, he returns the critters to their rightful owner, and then collects the finder’s fee. Jonas is not very talkative. In fact; he looks like a cat himself, he is so shy, elusive and mysterious. He prefers to lock himself in his house full of cats, to listen to jazz music. His life is thrown into disarray when one day he sees a poster that does not show the picture of a missing cat, but that of a missing girl. He becomes fascinated and obsessed with the poster and decides to investigate. But is that wise…

The leading role in ‘Kattenkwaad’ is played by Michiel Bijmans, who makes Jonas a strange, eccentric boy, who lives in his own world. There are other roles for Erik van der Donk, Christine van Stralen, Trudi Klever and René de Wit. There is something surreal about the world of ‘Mischief’: the events could well take place around the corner, but because of the alienating twist that Van Dijk gives it, it also resembles a fairy tale. A macabre fairy tale indeed, because ‘Mischief’ has a frightening conclusion. Even if you see it coming, the shock is no less. Nova van Dijk presents a strong business card with ‘Mad Mischief’. That tastes like more!