story
When her parents end up in an acrimonious divorce, the headstrong, highly volatile Bo (12) moves to an Amsterdam suburb with her mother and brother. Once there, her neighbour, Joy, introduces her to the kickboxing club. She demonstrates natural talent and is very soon taking part in the Dutch championships, but her parents divorce is distracting Bo and threatens to ruin the contest. Bo has to learn restraint and accept that she can’t control everything.
author
Johan Timmers is a Dutch director and screenwriter, known in the Netherlands for films such as The Odd One Out (2010) and Wonderbroeders (2014), as well as the TV series Klein Holland (2008) and Volgens Jacqueline. He has also regularly directed commercials for Dutch advertising agency KesselsKramer. His latest feature film, Fight Girl (2018) premiered at the Nederlands Film Festival in October 2018 in Utrecht.
author's statement
»Bo’s story is very simple: a girl suffers from her parents’ divorce and fights her way through it. That’s all. If she wins the competition, she has conquered herself and she masters the situation. She has grown up to become strong and autonomous. /…/ Kickboxing is such a beautiful sport! I started kickboxing myself now and it is a very difficult and technical sport. In this film, 14-year-old girls are fighting at top level. Noa Farinum (in the role of Joy) is unbelievable, she would knock us both out in the blink of an eye. Main actress Aiko Beemsterboer trained three times a week for four months. The immense power of kickboxing radiates throughout the entire film and adds an extra dimension. It is a youth film, but the tone is tough, raw and energetic. /.../ I chose to maintain Bo’s perspective. That’s why I literally kept the parents at a distance. This is not their story. /.../ I enjoyed showing how some girls just knock down the boys. This is a film about girl power.«
- Johan Timmers