21/06/2016 - Johan Nijenhuis’ romantic comedy is still showing in 17 Dutch theatres

Released on 10 March, Skirt Day [+see also:
trailer
film profile] has become one of the most successful Dutch titles of the year at the local box office. Over 400,000 viewers have already seen Johan Nijenhuis’ latest romantic comedy – a figure high enough for the film to snag the Platinum Film label jointly granted by the Netherlands Film Festival and the Netherlands Film Fund.

Originally entitled Rokjesdag, the film’s title refers to the first day of spring, on which women suddenly appear wearing skirts with bare legs underneath. The term rokjesdag (“skirt day”) was coined by late Dutch columnist Martin Bril and is now in common use in the Netherlands. Nijenhuis and his scriptwriter, Eveline Hagenbeek, use rokjesdag as a pretext for a romantic plot in which 16 characters decide to attend a “cooking class for singles”, hoping to find their match during cooking-themed speed dates.

Nijenhuis – who throughout his career has already racked up a record number of six Platinum Films – not only directed but also produced Skirt Day, along with distribution outfit Entertainment One Benelux, which is still showing the film in 17 theatres across the country.

The Golden, Platinum and Diamond Film labels are granted by the Netherlands Film Festival and the Netherlands Film Fund when a Dutch feature takes 100,000, 400,000 and one million admissions, respectively.