A short mix of 5 documentaries I have been working on the last 2 years (03.30 min).

1) "Hoger dan de toppen en dieper dan de wortels" A short film featuring a 65 year old Dutch artist from The Hague. A man who lives a very intensive life. The combination of the type of art he creates and his extrovert character makes him quite a special, if not to say controversial figure. In this documentary his son tries to analyze his relationship with his father.

2) “A film about Menno” Menno is a Dutch former air-brush artist who moved to Spain some 6 years ago. He lives a rather isolated life, without hardly any money, being the caretaker of a farm surrounded by raptors, horses, two dogs and some chickens.

3) “A short film about Frank” is a portrait of Frank and his way of life. Frank is a former sportsman struggling to survive with his disease. Accompanied by the beautiful song “This is the thing” performed by the band Fink, this short film has resulted in an intimate piece of work.

4) “Geen sympathiek figuur” For a period of six months I followed my parents with my camera. After a marriage of 52 years, this last part of their life together shows the thin border between love and frustration. The film features a relationship that is rudely disturbed by Alzheimer's disease. As a former vicar, my father had always been a good public performer and had an important role to play in his community. One of his responsibilities was visiting and consulting the physically and mentally ill. During this last period of his life, he found himself on the other side of the line, when Alzheimer's made him a dependent man. My mother struggled to deal with this change of roles and character, requiring a lot of patience and care from her. The film shows an emotional balance between the weight this disease put on their lives and a certain amount of humor that remained to the very end.

5) “Oma Nel” A short film about 92 year old Oma Nel. Her whole life she has lived in the same house, where she still lives independently, with a little support. Every day people visit her for a coffee, being a very positive and active person, though she's had to face harsh times during her long and eventful life.