take this production

Rumah saya

Short documentary, 2009, 50 min.

Rumah Saya ('My home') is a rest home for elderly Indonesian Dutchmen. They sing, play games and enjoy Indonesian delicacies. Like in the old days, when Indonesia was still the Netherlands East-Indies. The residents, who still regularly use Malaysian phrases, were reunited in the Netherlands at an old age after their repatriation before, during and after WW II. The home regularly echoes with laughter, but conversations with occupants prove that some stories are not so nice. In deliberate phrases, Mrs. De Vries-Haring for instance tells about the prejudices that prevailed at the time. Because of her native mother, she was often discriminated against. At the hairdresser's, old sores are opened when people describe the literally and figuratively cold reception in Holland. Their generation is slowly thinning out. 'After our death', one resident asserts, 'the entire colonial era will have ended.' But to these old folks, it is still alive. This is why their stay in Rumah Saya causes such solidarity. To many, the home feels like being 'wrapped in a warm blanket.'

View ISAN

Director

Producer

Composer

Cinematographer - DoP

Editor

Sound mixer

Sound editor

Location sound recordist

Production company

Sales agent