'Penknife' at Erasmus Huis

JAKARTA (JP): Dutch cultural center Erasmus Huis will screen Het Zakmes (The Penknife) on Sunday, a Dutch-made film which won an Emmy award in 1993.

Directed by Ben Sombogaart, the film will be screened at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the center on Jl. Rasuna Said.

The main cast of the film, which is about the bonds of friendship, are Oliver Tuinier, Adelheid Roosen and Genio de Groot.

Mike and Tim are two 6-year-old friends. On their first day at school, Tim has bad news: he is going to move in a few weeks' time.

When they have to say goodbye, they don't know what to say to each other. They shyly play with Tim's red penknife. In the opening, when getting undressed, Mike discovers Tim's penknife in his trousers pocket. He might have put it there accidentally.

The next morning, Mike rushes to Tim's house to give the knife back, but it is too late. He finds Tim's house empty. So a lonely search for Tim starts. Mike tries everything to find his old friend, writing letters, taking a train and placing an advert in a newspaper.

But in his naivete, Mike keeps making little mistakes which wreck the whole adventure. He almost gives up hope as he watches a TV show in which children sing songs they wrote themselves. Then he suddenly has a brilliant idea, which will put him on Tim's trail.

The film has English subtitles.