The impressive and important documentary Selling a Colonial War won the IDFA ReFrame Award in November. This award recognises filmmakers who use archives in an extraordinary way in their work. The reason for making this documentary were interviews with veterans who told about their experiences in the Dutch East Indies and the jargon they used. Cassette tapes from 1975 play an important role in this documentary.
Using the interviews, director In-Soo Radstake examines how the Dutch government managed to sell the action In Indonesia as a noble act. “And they were very successful at that. An awful lot of volunteers came forward at the time. Those guys had just come out of five years of war and had seen how the allies had been received here. They were led to believe that a similar reception awaited Dutch people in the East Indies. Who didn’t want that? I probably would have fallen for it too.”
More information about Selling a Colonial War
The documentary ‘Een goed begin – bevallen in Nederland’ (70′) will be screened at several locations nationwide in the near future.
You can register at info@vertelburo.nl to be notified when the screening dates and locations of the national screenings are known. It is also possible to screen the documentary at your own chosen location.