Kester Dixon

A young sailor learns that his friend has died of a heroin overdose. He watches the 8mm films he has made of his friend and discovers that he keeps the world at a distance from behind his camera.

The Northern coast of Java was the setting for a dramatic battle at sea on the 27 February 1942. A fleet of battleships from the USA, Australia, Britain, and the Netherlands, led by the legendary Dutch rear admiral Karel Doorman, made a vain attempt to hold back the Japanese offensive against the Dutch East Indies. Almost the entire Allied fleet was sunk within a few hours, while the Japanese escaped virtually unscathed. More than two thousand men lost their lives in the battle of the Java Sea and it's aftermath.

Fifty years after making A New Village on New Land (1960), Van Gasteren and co-director Joke Meerman return to Nagele. What has Nagele become? He interviews residents and local officials and sees that over the course of fifty years, this model village has changed dramatically. The world turned out not to be as makeable as previously thought, and adjustments have had to be made on all fronts. The homes were too small, social cohesiveness is under strain and the original ideas, based on ideals, seem outdated. Van Gasteren also gets architects such as Umberto Barbieri and architectural historian Ed Taverne to speak, looking back at the work and ideals of their predecessors.