On Day Eight

A documentary about a dutch Chinese-Indonesian restaurant.

Her father fled Mao's Cultural Revolution, going to Hong Kong. Not long after, he joined the great Chinese exodus to the West and started a restaurant in Maastricht. But was his personal story really so closely interwoven with the history of China, Yan Ting Yuen wonders in this family portrait.

This documentary takes an economic perspective, painting a candid picture of how the Dutch chain store HEMA has had to adapt to modern times and globalization to continue as a major player on the highly competitive retail market. It's all about expansion, even as far as China. But do foreign countries really need quintessentially Dutch concepts such as uniform pricing, the classic HEMA smoked sausages and timeless ladies' dresses? Chinese filmmaker Yan Ting Yuen, who came to the Netherlands at the age of six, followed the passionate CEO for a year, trying to find out what makes HEMA so unique. It turns out to be about more than just smoked sausages, as shown by the success of the new stores in France, where customers stuff their baskets with coffee mugs and Dutch syrup waffles.

The story of lives inextricably linked to the Yang Ban Xi, the propaganda spectacles which replaced traditional opera during the Cultural Revolution in China.

After restaurant owner Chang dies, the whole town of Obdam is in deep mourning for 'their Chinese'. The always loyal Yung Ling (34) is forced to keep the struggling Chinese Indian restaurant Happy Palace running with her brother Lok Man (32), an artist and the most eccentric of the family. Unresolved feelings are getting in the way of cooperation, but their pragmatic mother Suk Wai (56) sees an opportunity to unite the shattered family.

An obsessive collector (Erik Fens) creates his own scrapbook world. The film presents analyses of the collecting impulse based on Freudian theorie and Buddhism.