Mikky Dijkstra

The First Years is a Dutch series for young people in which real-life situations are recreated. The series sheds light on subjects that pupils in the first year of secondary school may be confronted with.

Residents, police and the municipal government of the Dutch city of Enschede face loss, guilt and responsibility as they grapple with the May 2000 explosion of a fireworks depot that wipes a working-class suburb off the map.

Drama set in Twente's textile industry in the 1960s. The young worker Johanna wants to face the social conditions of the time. Their struggle coincides with the economic reconstruction and the arrival of Italy's first workers. Growing tensions between Twente's citizens and the newly arrived Italians lead to the riots in 1961. Along with her new lover Francesco, Johanna is in the eye of the storm.

When Lot goes blind in an accident, her world comes to an abrupt halt. Her plans to travel, study, dive and live together with her boyfriend Casper seem to fall apart. Lot fiercely resists her new helplessness and tries to escape her painful reality by dreaming as much as possible. In her dreams, she is free and can see again. Only when she accepts her new reality does she begin to get a grip on her life again.

Maya and Sem’s lives are intertwined. The two 17-year-old girls are like yin and yang: Sem lives for the future, Maya conversely lives in the here and now. One breezy summer’s evening, the two companions gaze up at the starry sky side by side. Sem clasps her ball, Maya her joint. There is some melodious music in the background. Everything is right, until the beat drops. Fate strikes promptly and ruthlessly.

In the shadow of the feared 'millennium bug', a Surinamese family navigates New Year's Eve 1999, discovering that facing their fears and having difficult conversations leads to new beginnings, rather than the end of the world.

The First Years is a Dutch series for young people in which real-life situations are recreated. The series sheds light on subjects that pupils in the first year of secondary school may be confronted with.

Residents, police and the municipal government of the Dutch city of Enschede face loss, guilt and responsibility as they grapple with the May 2000 explosion of a fireworks depot that wipes a working-class suburb off the map.