Dutch filmmaker Finn Szumlas has begun a five-week shoot in the Netherlands on his debut feature "Stairway to Earth," starring Polish actress Magdalena Koleśnik ("Sweat") and Dutch actor Kay Greidanus ("Dit Zijn Wij"). The film, inspired by how Szumlas's own Polish father and Danish mother met, follows two strangers who reunite weeks after a one-night stand at a festival and must confront an unplanned pregnancy over a single day in Leiden.

The story centres on Jan, a Dutch gardener, and Luiza, an ambitious Polish professional preparing to move to New York, who spend twenty-four hours together in Leiden during the city's Leidens Ontzet festival before Luiza's scheduled clinic appointment. The screenplay was written by Szumlas with Olga Ponjee, produced by Edwin Goldman (Goldman Film) and Petra Goedings (Phanta Film), with Polish co-producer Ewa Puszczyńska, whose credits include "Cold War," "Ida" and "The Zone of Interest". The production, shot partly on Super 16mm, is backed by Dutch broadcaster NTR, the Netherlands Film Fund, the Polish Film Institute, CoBo and Creative Europe MEDIA.