Recently we had a little chat with filmmaker Edwin Schaap from Nieuwegein in the Netherlands. His film “Little Freak” is an Official Selection for the 2013 Surrey International Film Festival. Here’s a little about Edwin!

Hello Edwin! Tell us a bit about yourself, where are you from, and how did you get involved in film-making?
I was born and raised in a little town in Holland called Wanroij. When I was a kid I dreamed about being an actor and I joined an amateur acting club which was fun. At the age of twelve I started to play a bit with 3D software and slowly started to get more and more interested in ‘how to make a film’ rather than playing in it. I didn’t have any family or friends who were in the film or 3D industry, so it all had to come out of own interest and effort. At the age of 15 my parents finally allowed me to buy a camera, so I could play around with effects etc. After two schools in media studies I’m finally starting in the professional work field. Soon I will be working on Jupiter Ascending at Framestore (Harry Potter, Narnia, Avatar, Gravity) in London.

Tell us a bit about your film, what inspired you?
There were several things that influenced me by making this film. First of all I wanted to do something totally different from what I already had done. I wanted to create a character that everybody would ‘believe’. I wanted to come up with a remarkable character, something had to be ‘wrong’ with him. I love films that are about interesting characters, such as Forrest Gump, the Elephant man and Benjamin Button. At first I wanted to create a trailer about this character. But when I started to think about where I would write my thesis about my plot started to take shape as well. My thesis was about sad emotions of characters and how it affects the audience. Together with the thesis I had to make up a little story so I could ‘test’ my outcomes. When the character was already build I was still thinking about storylines. It had to be very simple, just a little glimpse of his live, and a dream the boy had.

A process:
http://www.cgmeetup.net/home/process-making-little-freak/

Have you ever been to Canada?
Nope, But I would love to visit Canada sometime!!! My mum went there when I was young and and told me it was beautiful. She knew people in Surrey!

We are so excited to show “Little Freak” this year, what are your thoughts about the Surrey International Film Festival?
The Surrey International Film Festival is a great organization with lots of beautiful films from all over the world. I as a foreign filmmaker am very happy that they are looking for talents everywhere and manage to create a amazing festival. Besides that it’s great to see how they inspire people in making films and all that in a beautiful place, Surrey!

Last question, what’s your favorite movie of all time?
It’s so hard to say, it’s changing very often… For now I would say ‘Billy Elliot’ 🙂
And go check out ‘Gravity!’ which is outstanding!