Paradise Drifters

Falling in love feels like a bubble in which the rest of the world seems to disappear. Daily life seem to be temporarily suspended. The world freezes, an eclipse in time. Your senses and the world around you is on fire, and everyone is getting burned. It’s overwhelming, frightening and scary but above all magical. FIRST LOVE is a visualization of that feeling that once was.

In this 13-part history series, presenter Lisa Wade takes us back to World War II. From the occupation to the liberation, from the persecution of Jews to the NSB (Dutch Nazi Party), from the bombing of Rotterdam to the war in the Dutch East Indies.

Former Amsterdam police detective Floris Wolfs has been transferred to the police department of the south-Dutch country town Maastricht. His metropolitan experience nicely complements the local expertise of his new country colleagues, who know the folks. Slowly he fits in, while solving countless crimes together with his female partner Eva van Dongen.

Caught in the crossfire of their parents’ divorce, Nina and Eli are torn between loyalty, anger and a longing to be seen. Through their mirrored perspectives the same story unfolds, revealing how love can fracture and still find its way.

During World War II in the freezing winter of 1944-45 the western Netherlands are in the grip of a famine. Many people move east to provide for their families. Fourteen year old Michiel can't wait to join the Dutch resistance, to the dismay of his father, who, as mayor, works to prevent escalations in the village.

Isa and her older brother Kars' parents change course and start a campsite in France. Isa and Kars feel like they are moving to Timbuktu and losing everything. Fortunately, they don't complain for long, because they soon make new friends. But while new friendships blossom, Camping Timbuktu runs into trouble. Not far from them, another campsite has opened, and its unsympathetic owner tries to damage Camping Timbuktu in every way possible. It even looks like the campsite will have to close... Will Isa and Kars manage to keep Timbuktu open?

When Sven provokes a fight after an evening out in Amsterdam his best friend ends up in a coma, and nothing is the same as before.

Abandoned by their parents, two teenage siblings navigate life in youth care.

Rosa is thirteen. She is sensitive, creative and has a sense of humor. But she is also good at worrying, dissatisfied with her appearance, insecure and shy. Rosa's mother wants to live together with her new boyfriend, so they move to Groningen, where Alexander lives. Rosa hates that. She must leave everything she knows and what is familiar to her behind. including her best friend Esther. She has to go to a new school where she doesn't know anyone, and live in the house of Monkeyass! Basically, she needs a lot of things she doesn't want. How will she survive this?

The undocumented refugee Sabr (35) works in the Dutch illegal male prostitution. Short, gritty drama about the tragic cycle of abuse, dominance and power. Following his feature debut Paradise Drifters, Mees Peijnenburg presents a short, gritty and significantly less hopeful portrait, in his by now idiosyncratic, poetic-realistic style. The 35-year-old undocumented refugee Saba is caught within illegal male prostitution. His date with a john turns out different than expected, when several men are present at the meeting address. Should he pass over the money and run the risk they will call the police? Sort drama about the tragic cycle of abuse, dominance and power.

Sometimes things happen that silence everything else. Nothing makes sense any more. A narrow asphalt path meanders through woods and fields. A recurring image. It happened here somewhere. A tree and a cross, decorated with fresh flowers. Something happened here that was to change Henri’s life forever. He has been alone, everywhere, ever since – no matter whether he is with his friends, at parties or at home. Whatever happens, he is there and yet absent.