Opus

Marit Weerheijm received a grant to write a book. Opus is a magical-realist coming-of-age novel about grief and loss, and above all about the importance of feeling, understanding and expressing emotions. For those who cannot express their emotions risk becoming stuck. The protagonist, Opus, is an otherwise ordinary thirteen-year-old boy. However, where most children have a head on their shoulders, Opus has a book. He cannot speak; instead, his words appear on its blank pages, allowing those around him to read him. When his older brother Fees dies unexpectedly, Opus’s book suddenly closes and he is unable to reopen it.

Marit Weerheijm graduated in directing from the Netherlands Film Academy with her graduation film Grijs is ook een Kleur, which received, among other distinctions, a Student Academy Award. With En Route (2019), she won the Gouden Kalf for Best Short Film at the Netherlands Film Festival. Her short film How Light Gets In (2021) was nominated for a Gouden Kalf in the same category. The project Opus marks a substantive shift in her practice. Whereas her earlier work primarily emerged from a cinematic approach, this project initially raised doubts about its visual translation. Its themes and form called for a different development strategy, leading her to first elaborate the idea in written form before considering a potential audiovisual adaptation.