Amsterdam - During the 11th edition of the International Film Festival 'Nueva Mirada' for Children and Youth in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the successful family film 'Achtste-Groepers Huilen Niet' (Eighth Graders Don't Cry) won no fewer than two awards last night. Producers Rinkel Film and Bijker Film & TV announced this this afternoon. 'Achtste-Groepers Huilen Niet' received the 'Children and Young People Jury Award for Best Feature Film' and a 'Special Mention' under the title 'Children's Friend Award'.

The film festival, which is supported by UNESCO, focuses on cultural diversity among children in society. Director Dennis Bots is full of pride about this honorable award: "After *Eighth Graders Don't Cry* was embraced by a large audience in the Netherlands, I consider it an honor that the film is now also appreciated by an international cultural audience."

The film adaptation of Jacques Vriens' most famous children's book already won the Audience Award at the prestigious TIFF Kids Film Festival in Toronto in April. In July, the Scandinavian production company Cinenord purchased the remake rights, and financing for this production is now well underway. Producer Silje Hopland Eik expects to start filming in February 2013. 'Achtste-Groepers Huilen Niet' also remains a success in the Netherlands. The film is still the most-watched Dutch feature film of 2012 and, since its release nine weeks ago, is one of the best-selling films in our country on DVD, Blu-ray, and VOD.

'Eighth Graders Don't Cry' is a hopeful, moving family film based on a true story about the brave girl Anke. She was in the class of the book's author, Jacques Vriens, when he worked as a teacher at a primary school.

The film is about Tough Akkie (Hanna Obbeek), who is in the eighth grade and is crazy about football. During school hours, her class is being prepared by Miss Ina (Evan Van der Gucht) for important events such as the Cito test, school camp, and the final of the school tournament. After school, Akkie prefers playing football with her classmates. She doesn't care that Joep (Nils Verkooijen) thinks football isn't a sport for girls. She is really good at it and can easily beat Joep. But then Akkie gets sick. Fortunately, she receives a lot of support from her classmates and Miss Ina. Despite the sadness, the optimistic Akkie can't help but meddle in everything, even from the hospital. When it looks like she might miss the football tournament, Joep comes up with a cool plan for her.

'Achtste-Groepers Huilen Niet' was produced by Bijker Film & TV (Harro van Staverden and David-Jan Bijker) and Rinkel Film (Reinier Selen) in co-production with the Evangelical Broadcasting (EO) and the Belgian Living Stone. The film was financed by, among others, the Netherlands Film Fund, the CoBO Fund, Dutch Film Works, and the Flemish Audiovisual Fund.

Dutch FilmWorks handles the distribution and also released the film on DVD, VOD, Blu-ray, and DVD on July 3.



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