Dutch Film Festival awards going gender-neutral

The presentation of the Golden Calves will be renewed. As of the coming edition of the Netherlands Film Festival (NFF), the most important film awards in the Netherlands will be overhauled, the organization announced on Thursday after research together with the Dutch Academy for Film and ACT Acteursbelang.

At the ceremony, only one Golden Calf for Best Leading Role and one Golden Calf for Best Supporting Role will now be awarded. Five performances will be nominated for these awards. In other years, the NFF still made a distinction between a prize for men and women in these categories.

From this year on, only one award will be presented in the Drama Series category for the best leading role and the best supporting role. In addition, for the first time a Golden Calf will be awarded for Best Leading Role in a Short Film. The festival will take place from 24 September to 2 October. The presentation of the Golden Calves will be on 1 October in Utrecht.

"The discussion about gender inclusivity has been going on worldwide for years and this is also urgent within the national and international film and image sector. The NFF moves with the spirit of the times and has chosen, as has been the case with the other Golden Calves for decades, to eliminate the distinction between men and women in the acting awards," said Silvia van der Heiden, general director of the NFF.

Manoushka Zeegelaar Breeveld of ACT Acteursbelangen called the new distribution of the film awards "an important link" in the hope of a broader representation of actors. "This new format is a first step towards greater inclusiveness and diversity."