Pieter Jan Smits' interest in heavy industry was apparent from his documentary Magnitogorsk (1996), a portrait of workers in the steel mills of the Urals. For his film Cokes!, Smits went to Sluiskil in Zeeland where in 1999 Holland's last cokes factory was shut. He filmed the factory and its employees just before the fire was put out in the ovens. For ninety eight years, four generations worked here drumming coal. In this process, gas is taken from coal to turn it into a raw material for the steel industry. In the canteen, the men reminisce about a worker who was imprisoned after the strike in 1929 and the fines imposed for smoking or chattering. Old prints, photos and archive footage illustrate the tall stories. The film also looks at some of the men as they try to reorganise their lives after many years of faithful service.
