NL Film and Wattpad to Develop 36 VRAGEN (EN HEEL VEEL KOLLIE), a Groundbreaking new Film Project based on Samya Hafsoui’s Muslim Romance Story
AMSTERDAM and TORONTO - November 19, 2020 - Wattpad, the global multi-platform entertainment company for original stories, and NL Film today announced 36 Vragen (en heel veel koffie) [36 Questions (and lots of coffee)], a groundbreaking new film project the companies will develop based on Samya Hafsaoui’s Muslim romance story of the same name. The film is the first major project from NL Film and Wattpad, following a 2019 announcement of an exclusive Dutch-language partnership to develop Dutch-language YA stories from Wattpad. Author Samya Hafsaoui will co-write the adaptation, along with an as-yet-undetermined co-writer.
Samya Hafsaoui’s (@SamyaHafsaoui) Muslim-romance 36 Vragen (en heel veel koffie) [36 Questions (and lots of coffee)] has more than 6,000 reads on Wattpad. The film adaptation will be the first Muslim romance project from NL Film, and part of a growing movement on Wattpad to increase representation for Muslim communities in the romance genre. In 2020, Wattpad users around the world spent more than 78 million minutes reading stories tagged #MuslimLoveStory and associated tags. #MuslimLoveStory also saw a massive 113% increase in reading time from 2019 - 2020.
“Wattpad is a place where diverse communities around the world share their stories in their own voices,” said Aron Levitz, Head of Wattpad Studios. “36 Vragen (en heel veel koffie) is a groundbreaking project and, ultimately, a statement: that entertainment needs more and better representation for the many different communities, voices, and experiences that make up the world. We’re proud and deeply honoured to work with NL Film and Samya to tell this story together.”
“One of our main objectives in working with Wattpad was finding stories that are underrepresented in the mainstream media,” said Kaja Wolffers, Creative Director / Producer NL Film. “In 36 vragen (en heel veel koffie) by Samya Hafsaoui, we found a story that is so authentic and also has a very clear voice. This story is not written with the white frame on how a story about a Muslim girl is normally told, but from the perspective of a writer who is a Muslim woman herself, who has a very clear opinion on inclusivity and wants to see and read content she is represented by. This matches exactly with what we were looking for. And it is a great story too.”
About 36 Vragen (en heel veel koffie) [36 Questions (and lots of coffee)]: Romaisa’s sister, Loubna, is getting married. Which is great news for everyone, except Romaisa, who is still struggling with the loss of her father after he recently passed away, just before the pending nuptials. But, in this painful moment of loss and spiritual reflection, the rest of Romaisa’s Dutch-Muslim family has decided to proceed with the wedding. When Loubna cunningly tries to set her up with a local barista named Julail, Romaisa finds he’s also caught between family expectations and his own happiness. Finding themselves facing similar pulls of family and culture, Romaisa and Julail invent a solution: pretend that they are dating so their families are happy. But that's easier said than done...
Samya Hafsaoui (@SamyaHafsaoui) is one of the most exciting voices in Dutch media and entertainment, working in TV, print, music, streaming, and theatre. Her interviews with iconic entertainers like Lizzo and Emilia Clarke have been published in Dutch Vogue and Glamour magazine. After working on one of the Netherlands longest-running talk shows, Hafsaoui went on to host, Na Het Nieuws, her own national television talk show in 2019. She'll be writing a new musical for the legendary Amsterdam-based theatre DeLaMar starting in January 2021.
“So many North-American and European stories about Muslim communities, especially Muslim girls, are told by people who don’t understand the lived experiences of Muslims,” said Samya Hafsaoui, author of 36 Vragen (en heel veel koffie). “The love stories with Muslim characters usually force women to make a choice between love and faith: the girl falls in love with a white non-Muslim boy, she fights with her family, struggles with her faith, takes off her hijab, and chooses the boy. That storyline functions as a symbol for newly gained freedom. But I am a Muslim girl, and I see myself as empowered with my hijab on. Why do we have to choose between love, faith and values that in real life merge perfectly with the places we call home? With 36 Vragen (en heel veel koffie), I wanted a story that firmly establishes characters as human and as authentic as possible from an #OwnVoices perspective. It’s a feel-good love story between two Muslims, for everyone. And this time, the hijab stays on.”
Wattpad currently has more than 70 projects in development around the world, including Kate Marchant’s Float with Collective Pictures’ Robbie Amell, who will produce and star in the project; Deanna Cameron’s What Happened That Night, which is being adapted by Academy Award-nominated Children of Men screenwriter David Arata; and T.L. Bodine’s The Hound, which is being penned by Angela LaManna (Netflix’s The Haunting of Bly Manor). Wattpad’s film After opened at #1 in 17 markets in 2019, going on to win three Teen Choice Awards and a People’s Choice Award. The sequel, After We Collided, has been an indie smash hit across Europe since release in September 2020, and two more sequels are in production.
NL Film’s Kaja Wolffers, Sabine Brian and Ronald Versteeg will produce 36 Vragen (en heel veel koffie) [36 Questions (and lots of coffee)], alongside Wattpad’s Aron Levitz, Muriel Rosilio, and Carla Zeller.
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About NL Film
NL Film is a production company based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Since its foundation, NL Film has built up an impressive oeuvre of short and feature-length films, youth drama and television series. A striking feature of the company’s output is the breadth of target groups it has been able to reach. Its television drama portfolio ranges from (public broadcaster) NPO series Penoza, The Body Collector, Floor Rules and Commandos to drama series Black Tulip and Bluff for the commercial broadcasters. The company also produces content for YouTube, such as the web series Meet the Stockers. Thanks to a diverse range of feature films, including The Resistance Banker, Tonio, Love over Distance, Penoza: The Final Chapter and The Columnist NL Film is one of the most active, talked-about contemporary Dutch film producers.
NL Film is part of Banijay Group.
ABOUT WATTPAD
Wattpad’s vision is to entertain and connect the world through stories. Wattpad’s flagship app is the world’s leading social storytelling platform, home to a community of more than 90 million people who spend over 23 billion minutes a month engaged in original stories. Wattpad’s Story DNA Machine Learning technology allows the company to discover stand-out stories among the nearly one billion uploads that have been written on the platform. Wattpad Studios and Wattpad Books are transforming entertainment and publishing, using data-backed insights to turn Wattpad stories into books, films and TV shows. Wattpad Brand Partnerships help brands build deep engagement with Gen Z consumers. In 2020, Wattpad was recognized as one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company. The company is proudly based in Toronto, Canada. Learn more at company.wattpad.com