Verena + Jo (In Development)

Based on real events from World War II, two teenage girls team up in the Dutch resistance to seduce and assassinate Nazis.
As a transformative relationship grows between them, Verena also explores new layers of gender identity.

Verena + Jo (working title)
Narrative Feature Film (in development)

Selected for B3 Biennial of the Moving Image - B3 Talent Forum HessenLab 2022, Film London Upstream pitch 2023

During World War II, teenage Dutch resistance fighters weaponized their sexuality and femininity to seduce and then assassinate Nazi officers. These young women would meet Nazi officers in a local bar and then invite them for a walk in the nearby woods, where they would meet their death. This film adaptation is based on these actual historical events, but the story will be expanded and fictionalized to express a story of queer love in a time and place where this love was subject to harsh punishment.

As pressure increases against the Resistance during the final year of the World War II, these young, innocent appearing resistance volunteers transition from underground espionage tasks to the more dangerous work of seduction and assassination. Shooting in 1940s period-appropriate super 16mm film, with heightened sound design to convey small details, the film will be designed to place viewers inside the experience of the protagonists, resistance workers Verena and Jo.

Jo, 19, is a sharp-witted university student driven to work with the resistance by a deep sense of ethics. Verena, 17, joins the resistance along with her younger sister Nel in part because of their socialist, sexually liberated mother’s influence. At first, Jo seems unapproachably intellectual and sophisticated to Verena, is a tomboy with a tough guy exterior who doesn’t know how to apply makeup. Deeper into their resistance work, Verena begins to explore gender expression through choosing to dress and perform as a man for missions. Trust, intimacy, and vulnerability develop between the pair as they share experiences triumphant and traumatic while pursuing the work of justice under extreme circumstances.

As a romantic relationship grows between these resistance comrades, their determination to fight the Nazis deepens. They recognize their own potential to fall victim to the Nazi persecution of queer people, alongside the populations they are working to protect.

Please contact director Talena Sanders for full film treatment or additional information at Talena dot d dot sanders at gmail dot com