Remco Campert

Reading relay of the novel 'Oeroeg' by Hella Haasse by eighty well-known and lesser-known Dutch people. Each person reads a page aloud, after which the book is passed on to the next reader. Philip Freriks, news anchor and ambassador for Nederland Leest, opens the reading relay. Director Shireen Strooker concludes it. 'Oeroeg' is Hella Haasse's debut novel from 1948. Haasse tells the story of the friendship between an Indonesian boy and the son of a Dutch administrator at a tea plantation in the Dutch East Indies before the Second World War. Gradually, the two boys grow apart. When the narrator, the Dutch boy, returns to the Indies—which has not yet quite become Indonesia—after studying in Delft, their estrangement turns out to have grown into a chasm. The final sentence reads: "Am I forever a stranger in the land of my birth, on the soil from which I do not wish to be uprooted? Time will tell."

"It was a kind of flywheel that you set in motion; I couldn't turn back at all," says Hans van Mierlo in the film about his political career. That career began in 1966 when he founded the political party D66 with a number of like-minded individuals. Clearly visible from the editorial office of the Algemeen Handelsblad on the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal in Amsterdam, the unrest was crowing, fueled by Provo. The pillar society, which had kept the Netherlands afloat for so long, was no longer adequate. That was his analysis, and a much more direct democracy would have to take its place.

Dutch author, poet and columnist Remco Campert still sits at his typewriter every day, despite his advancing age. This veteran of the experimental Dutch literary movement of the early 1950s known as the Vijftigers sees himself mainly as a poet, even though he might be more famous for his columns, short stories and public performances. He has carefully created an image of himself as a charming Sunday's child, loved by everyone. But who is he really? Director John Albert spent a year with Campert, quietly documenting his everyday life (the daily game of scrabble with his wife Deborah, a cup of tea, a cigarette, a glass of wine), as well as more intimate moments such as his admission to the hospital and conversations with his daughters and friends. He turns out to be a man of few words - at least verbally - but his poems tell a story of melancholy, mortality and approaching death. Fortunately, his writing keeps him going: "Poetry is an act of affirmation. I affirm that I am alive."

Remco Campert reads the first chapter aloud, with images of Campert walking and people picnicking on a summer day in the Vondelpark in Amsterdam.

A behind the scenes look and edited registration of the groundbreaking theater play 'Going to the dogs' by the Dutch artist Wim T. Schippers. The play was performed by six Alsations (German Shepherds).

The doorbell rings, but Erik doesn't feel like answering. He hides in a closet, after someone else lets in the visitor. Dutch short film based on a story by Remco Campert.

Life Is Wonderful is a feel-good movie about love and longing. Best friends Mees and Boelie are spending a beautiful spring day in Amsterdam's Vondelpark. It seems like just a normal day, until they meet the young and attractive Panda. While the heat rises in the park, it's nowhere to be found between the long-married couple Etta and Ernst-Jan. Ernst-Jan suspects Etta of cheating and has his own ideas of how to catch her in the act. We also meet Rosa and Kees, old lovers whose paths cross after decades of not seeing each other. On this spring day in Amsterdam, their love starts blooming again.

An adaptation of a story by Remco Campert. The long and silent image of a boy during the morning hours, in front of a mirror.