Half hour documentaries produced

 

Are you from heaven, Ma'm?
36 MINUTES • 1993 • DUTCH SPOKEN



Are you from heaven?

• Co-production with •
KRO (the Netherlands)

director Marja Kok
camera Onno van der Wal
sound Charles Kersten


The whole night Wil Alberts sits in front of a huge apparatus which enables her to communicate with all the 180 mentally handicapped residents of the housing estate 'The Werf', in the north of Amsterdam. All residents have their own room. To make contact with all of them possible, an enormous intercom was installed.

Wil Alberts, head of the night shift, sings, talks and laughs with the residents all through the night. Whenever a resident is in need of assistance, she calls one of the attendants to go and visit him/her.

Director Marja Kok: 'The main target of my films is to overcome the gap between mentally handicapped and society. Over and over again I am fascinated by any such person, happy with nothing and therefor a present for our society.'



Imperfect but infinitely beautiful
2 TIMES 26 MINUTES • 1994 • DUTCH SPOKEN

imperfect but infinitely beautiful

• Co-production with •
KRO (the Netherlands)

• Co-funded by •
Stichting Findsenwervingsacties Volksgezondheid

director Marja Kok
camera Onno van der Wal
sound Charles Kersten

'Imperfect but infinitely beautiful’, the title of a Dutch song that Marcel sings in the film, is the follow up of ‘Are you from heaven ma’am?’.

'The Werf' is not a conventional institution. It consists of normal family houses in which groups of 5 mentally handicapped people live together. In house number 82 live Fred van Unen, Marcel Elmers, Rik Meijs, Bert van Bakel and Johannes Ritskes. Their life is shown from a very personal perspective.

In part I we see their day to do activities, from getting up till going to bed. Some of them work, but most of their days are filled with things they really like. Bert, for example is constantly cycling all over Amsterdam. Marcel, as ever, is singing and performing acts, even when he is taking a shower.

In part II the boys are visiting their parents. Their parents love their children and would rather have them home, but saw no other possibility for them than to live in an institution.In a very humane way this film shows the life of mentally handicapped people. Even if this group of youngsters live in an institution they still lead an independent and happy life.
 

A Peacock in the Jungle
25 MINUTES • 1998 • ENGLISH SUBTITLED


peacock

• shown at •
Amnesty Film Festival 1998

director Kim Meyer
camera Klaas Hendriks
editing Patrick Janssens

This documentary offers an insider's view of the situation of the Burmese freedom fighters struggling for their cause at the border of Thailand and Burma. They want a democratic Burma. Their forces are united under the banner of the 'All Burma Students Democratic Front' (ABSDF).

Two members of the ABSDF, a reporter and an information officer, give the audience an unprecedented insight into the lives of the members of the ABSDF. The reporter, a young Burmese woman, who has been living with her daughter in one of the ABSDF camps in the jungle in Thailand for more than six years, interviews the refugees about their reasons for taking refuge in Thailand and sends this information to the ABSDF office in Bangkok. The information officer works at the ABSDF information office in Bangkok. His role is of the utmost importance: through his press releases he demands international attention for the violation of human rights in Burma.

As the situation in Burma hardly changes this film is a rather timeless document.
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