Covering Media

Sarah Bannier as Bibi and Carice van Houten as Minoes in MISS MINOES, a film directed by Vincent Bal. Picture courtesy Music Box Films. All rights reserved.

Miss Minoes (2001/2011)

Also Known As: Minoes, Undercover Kitty

Opened: 12/23/2011 Limited

Trailer: Click for trailers

Websites: Home

Genre: Dutch Children's Film (Dubbed in English (original language Dutch))

Rated: PG for brief language, smoking and rude behavior.

Synopsis

Tibbe, junior journalist at the local newspaper The Killendoorn Times, is about to be fired. He is, in fact, too shy to be a good journalist, but the editor-in-chief is prepared to give him one more chance. While Tibbe racks his brain to find a subject for a good story, he meets the extraordinary Miss Minoes. She claims she used to be a cat and indeed behaves like one: she purrs, rubs her face against other people's faces, loves to sleep in a box, and communicates with cats. Tibbe does not know what to make of Miss Minoes, but as she supplies him with exclusive news thanks to her relations with cats, he decides to make her his assistant in return for bed and board.

What follows is an amazing adventure against the backdrop of the small, typically Dutch town of Killendoorn, where everybody knows everybody and has a finger in everybody's pie. The numerous cats in Killendoorn observe mankind and supply Miss Minoes -- and therefore Tibbe -- with the latest news. Tibbe then becomes a successful journalist and tries to keep Miss Minoes out of the picture. This leads to strained relations between himself and his downstairs neighbor, 8-year old Bibi van Dam. And between Tibbe and Miss Minoes, all is not well either. Tibbe takes advantage of Miss Minoes' "cat news service", but does not want Miss Minoes to behave like a cat. Bibi, on the other hand, accepts Miss Minoes the way she is. After an adventurous night, when Miss Minoes teaches Bibi to walk on the roofs, they become very close friends.

One day the cats discover that Mr. Ellemeet -- managing director of the city's most important factory and highly regarded local benefactor -- is in fact somewhat of a scoundrel. When Miss Minoes sees to it that Tibbe publishes Mr. Ellemeet's nasty affairs, the whole town turns against Tibbe. And when Tibbe refuses to rectify his article, he is fired on the spot. But Miss Minoes and her "cat news service" refuse to put up with this. By means of a wicked plan and Bibi's help, they manage to publicize evidence of Mr. Ellemeet's guilt, whereupon Tibbe's reputation is rehabilitated. Unfortunately this moment of triumph is overshadowed by rumors that Miss Minoes has decided to become a cat again. It's only when she disappears that Tibbe realizes how much Miss Minoes means to him. In his attic he unburdens his heart to Bibi, but guess who -- to his great joy -- appears at his attic-window...?

Director's Statement

"When I was a kid I sometimes wished I could step in the movie screen and live there. It seemed so wonderful to fly away with Peter Pan, to walk over the rooftops with Mary Poppins and the chimney sweeps, and even sing and dance with Oliver Twist... These films changed the way I looked at reality. Chimney sweeps never looked the same to me; I was always watching closely to see if they wouldn't start dancing all of a sudden... So when I got the chance to make "Minoes", I hoped that it would have the same impact on kids. Maybe after seeing the film they will gaze over the rooftops at night and imagine a magical world there? Maybe they will start talking to the cats on the streets? I really hope so. (And I can only hope that the cats are polite enough to answer.)"

-- Vincent Bal

Select Biographies

Annie M.G. Schmidt (Author of the Book)

In 1988, Annie M.G. Schmidt (1911-1995) was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Medal by writer Astrid Lindgren. The Dutch press called her "The Real Queen of Holland", and her rival in popularity, Guus Kuijer, even said: "Annie's not a writer. She's a miracle!"

Annie M.G. Schmidt came from a parson's family. She trained as a librarian and was once chief librarian in a children's library. During the war she came into contact with the underground newspaper Het Parool where her talent for writing poems and short stories for children, along with cabaret material, was discovered. As a children's author, she enjoyed unparalleled success. In 1965 she received the very first State Prize for Children's and Youth Literature. She gained national recognition amongst adults through her popular radio and television series, musicals, comedies and cabarets. Her books have been translated in numerous countries and she herself translated a good number of books from English. She wrote a total of ten collections of verse for children, many of which have been set to music (a selection of these appeared in the U.S.A. in 1984). Her stories for public reading, about the toddlers Jip and Janneke, have sold more than three million copies to date in The Netherlands!

Querido began publishing children's books in 1971 with Annie M.G. Schmidt's Pluk van de Petteflet/Pluk and his Tow Truck, which remains one of the best current titles of the list. In Annie M.G. Schmidt's stories, children do the real work. Abel, Nella Della, Pluk and Otje take the reins, keep cool heads, and work hard to set things right. She pokes fun at presidents, directors, immaculate ladies, malicious characters and odd situations, but never at children.

Carice Van Houten (Minoes)

Carice Van Houten was born on September 5th, 1976 in Leiderdorp, the Netherlands. Her mother Margje Stasse is on the board of Dutch educational TV and her father Theodore van Houten is a writer and broadcaster. Her younger sister Jelka van Houten is also an actress. Van Houten went to the St. Bonifatiuscollege (high school) in Utrecht, where she played the leading role in Hugo Claus' Tijl Uilenspieghel, directed by Ad Migchielsen. She also studied at the Kleinkunstacademie in Amsterdam.

Carice van Houten played her first leading role in Martin Koolhoven's TV film Suzy Q. Van Houten won a Golden Calf for her part as Suzy. She also won the Pisuisse Award and the Top Naeff Award for her stage acting and another Golden Calf for her part as the kitten that becomes a girl in Minoes (2001). The first time she could be seen in cinemas in the USA was when Martin Koolhoven's AmnesiA (2001) got a small theatrical release.

Van Houten won a Golden Calf for her performance as Rachel Stein in the 2006 film Black Book at the Netherlands Film Festival. Black Book's director Paul Verhoeven says about her: "Never in my life I have worked with an actress this talented." The international press is also enthusiastic about her role in Black Book. Dick Schumer writes in his review of the film in the Frankfurter Allgemeine that Carice van Houten is "not only more beautiful, but also a better actress than Scarlett Johansson".

Carice's first English spoken movie was Dorothy from French director Agnes Merlet. Her performance in Black Book led to roles opposite Tom Cruise in Valkyrie and Jude Law and Forest Whitaker in the science-fiction thriller Repo Men. She has acted in three movies of Dutch director Martin Koolhoven. In 2008, she starred in the non-commercial short movie Zingen in het Donker, a drama about domestic violence. She was also featured in the March 2008 issue of Vanity Fair, photographed by Wayne Maser. In January 2008, New York Magazine named Van Houten Woman of the Year and highlighted her in the magazine.

On 4 October 2008, filming began on From Time To Time, directed by Julian Fellowes. It is based on the children's literature classic The Chimneys of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston, and Van Houten is attached to star as Maria Oldknow. In April 2009 it was announced that Van Houten would star in Black Death by UK director Christopher Smith and in the highly anticipated Dutch film Love Life (Komt een vrouw bij de dokter), based on the celebrated novel of the same name by Ray Kluun.

Burny Bos (Writer/Producer)

It all started in Haarlem 1944. Burny was born and grew up there, willy-nilly. Despite the damaging track record he left behind on the schools in the area, he finally left Haarlem with two diplomas and a daughter, Tamara. He moved to Zeeland. Burny had become a schoolteacher, a drawing master and a father. In Middelburg, it was the hippy era and Burny ran a youth centre.

His unbridled energy and creativity led him all the way from far out Zeeland to Hilversum where he started making radio programs. His children's programs were strikingly humorous, committed and free of moralizing. Programs like Radio Lawaaipapegaai and Ko de Boswachter (Ko the Forrester) chained hundreds of thousands of kids to the radio.

The next step was to set up a children's department for VPRO television. Many famous TV programs were produced and the phenomenon of Sunday morning television was established. Meanwhile, he also became a children's book author. Many titles saw the light and especially the addition of young children as his readers. After some years at VPRO TV, Burny started his own production company for television and features aimed at a family and youth audience: Bos Bros.

The release of The Flying Liftboy marked a turning point in Dutch film history: it was the first time that Holland released a national movie on a massive scale. Burny's company philosophy "to make beautiful things with nice people" has turned Bos Bros into a company where people continue to work toward one common goal: to deliver a quality product. Burny above all follows the path of choosing a nice life rather than one that is bigger, richer, and busier.

Bos Bros Film-TV Productions (Production Company)

When Burny Bos founded his production company Bos Bros in 1989, the entire landscape of Dutch film changed. Films like Abel, The Flying Liftboy, Minoes, Yes Nurse, No Nurse and Where is Winky's Horse showed that there is a large audience for lovingly and tastefully produced films. Bos Bros developed into a firm known for its quality films and television series, aimed at children and families. All elements of production for each film are done in extreme detail, such as the selection of the titles and the adaptation of scenarios to reach the hearts and minds of the main target group: children. Bos Bros takes kids very seriously, which results into emotional, funny, exciting and adventurous films.

Many parents, grandparents and children remember the Bos Bros titles. Bos Bros' main strength is its serious approach to film and television. A lot of effort is put into guiding the screenwriters and directors throughout the production of a film to make sure everything is done professionally and creatively. Over the years, Bos Bros has worked with a great number of renowned individuals in the film industry.

Bos Bros' success has satisfied distributors and cinema exhibitors, includeding WB Benelux, since audiences came in large numbers to the Bos Bros' films. And due to the fact that children love to see their favorite films over and over again, DVD releases were also very successful. That Bos Bros' productions often run and rerun on television proves that they have a classical style independent of fashion or time.