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Recently the Dutch collective management organization for film and television directors (VEVAM) told me that my funding application for a research trip to Northern Ireland has been granted! This will allow me to work out a new idea for a documentary.

In the 1970s I was involved in volunteer work in Northern Ireland, bringing together children and teenagers from different religious backgrounds in order to promote tolerance and reconciliation. In 1976 I coordinated a work camp in the Netherlands for Dutch and Northern Irish teenagers. Brexit has again made me concerned about the situation in Northern Ireland. I am curious to know – 45 years on – how the participants are doing, what they think about Brexit, and whether the work camp has had an impact on their lives.

Since last summer I have managed to trace many of them, and now it’s time to visit them personally. At the moment, of course, it isn’t clear when I’ll be able to go to Northern Ireland, but I’m very much looking forward to it once we’re allowed to travel again and it’s safe to meet people.

NB. If you have any information about the people involved or would like to know more about this project, please contact me at info[at]angewieberdink[dot]nl 

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I am making a documentary for a theatre company on the play Lastige Ouders (‘Difficult parents’), with the actors Pieter Tiddens and Marike van Weelden. The play is based on Marike’s own family situation.

In the documentary we will also see her daughter Bieneke. Together with her brother, Bieneke was included in Vera Duivenvoorden’s photographic series ZieJeMij (‘Can you see me?’), about brothers and sisters of people with disabilities. The series is being shown at regional training centres in the Netherlands, and Bieneke herself gives talks on what it was, and is, like to grow up with her brother. After two intensive days of shooting, production has now been temporarily halted because of the coronavirus crisis.

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Na twee intensieve draaidagen ligt de productie nu even stil door de Corona crisis.

In the spring I was asked by a cultural centre in Vouziers, to record the results of a project involving children aged 10 to 12. The children had written down their dreams. With guidance from Elodie and Isabelle they had prepared plays that they acted ‘on location’ for the film. A total of eight videos were the result. These were shown to parents and guests at an end-of-term meeting in Vouziers in late July. One of the parents confided that her daughter had changed during the project, and had opened up. According to Elodie, the children found me exotic and therefore interesting. They were not used to dealing with foreigners. The language was not a problem. Some children thought I was speaking a different language because I have an accent in French. 

The videos are not publicly available because not all the parents have given permission. 

 

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