Grit is a short film based on true events during the Battle of the Scheldt, which took place at the end of World War II in the Netherlands.
Director Matthias Hoekman, part of the Hoekman Brothers, has a personal connection with all the stories he mixed into this dark surrealistic tale.
The main event of the film happened on October 3, 1944. The Royal Air Force bombed the seawall of Westkapelle to set the island Walcheren under water in their attempt to dislodge the Nazis. Forty-seven villagers hid in mill The Rose when it got hit. Only three of them survived. The main character Jerina is based on Jo Theune. Stuck under the rubble, while water is rising, Jerina is confronted with the loss of her family during the war.
Her husband’s storyline is based on Wouter Damen. He was part of the resistance and got busted on October 2, 1944. It all took place in the same street the filmmaker lives now and where he wrote the scenario. Damen got exported for trial, but was executed halfway, without trial, on his birthday October 8, 1944.
The story of their daughter Maria is based on family of the filmmaker. A V1 bomb killed Maria de Voogd, only three years old, February 1945. She was on the run for the battle on Walcheren.
Grit premiered on September 4 in the Liberationmuseum in Nieuwdorp (Netherlands). Grit is selected for the Film by the Sea festival in Vlissingen and the International Filmfestival Tegenstroom. And awarded for Best Drama and Best Editing at Short to the Point festival November 2020.
This short is part of BATTLE OF THE SCHELDT – FIVE CINEMATIC TALES, a project initiated by Filmalot.
