Het Nieuwe Westen / The New West, documentary, 58 min,VPRO (Dutch national broadcaster) 2006

The director’s father in law Fred is campaigning for the right wing “Lijst Pim Fortuyn” Party. When he isn’t elected to local government, and his IT company goes bankrupt, Fred ends up unemployed. Then his request for unemployment benefits is denied and he loses his belief in the rights of the Dutch citizen. Fred decides to move to what he calls the ‘new west’ (the former east bloc) with his girlfriend Nathalie, to develop a commercial camping site. In order to finance the plans, they place an ad on the Internet, looking for similar thinking Dutch families who would emigrate with them. Filmmaker Luuk Bouwman follows the emigrants over a period of two years as they try to realize their plans.

Production Nellie Kamer. Editing: Jan Overweg. Nominated for Prix Europa.

Press: NRC, Volkskrant