Bluebird
Written by	Helena van der Meulen
Directed by	Mijke de Jong
Starring	Elske Rotteveel Kees Scholten Elsie de Brauw Jaap Spijkers Bright O'Richards
Theme music composer	Harry de Wit Richard Janssen
Country of origin	Netherlands
Original language	Dutch
Production
Producers	Hans de Weers Hans de Wolf
Cinematography	Goert Giltay
Editor	Dorith Vinken
Running time	77 minutes
Production company	CoBo Fonds
Original release
Release	10 April 2004 (2004-04-10)

Bluebird is a 2004 Dutch television film directed by Mijke de Jong. It is the first in a trilogy of films made by de Jong about young women becoming adults.^[1] The film was selected by the Netherlands as its official Foreign Language Film submission for the 78th Academy Awards, but was disqualified by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences because it had been shown on television.

Plot

Merel (Elske Rotteveel) is a 13 year old girl living in Rotterdam and looking after her younger disabled brother. She is successful at school, but hounded by a group of a classmates. As the bullying intensifies, Merel finds it hard to talk about it and her behaviour changes.

Accolades

Bluebird won a Crystal Bear award at the Berlin International Film Festival.^[2] The film was selected by the Netherlands as its official Foreign Language Film submission for the 78th Academy Awards, but was rejected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences because it had been shown on television.^[3] The film also won the Youth Jury Award at the Toronto Sprockets International Film Festival for Children and the Grand prix de Montréal at the Montréal International Children’s Film Festival.^[4]

In 2008, VPRO rated it as de Jong's best film and stated it demonstrated her skill as a director.^[5]