Chain of Love

Tegenlicht in Dutch or Backlight in English is a series of television documentaries by the VPRO, a Dutch public broadcasting organisation. Backlight "aims to grasp the quintessence of prominent trends and developments" in the practice of critical journalism, and tries to improve understanding of the intricate inner workings of our modern society.

Around 1970, director Marije Meerman attended the anti-authoritarian daycare center Prins Constantijn in Amsterdam, where children were raised by a collective of parents to become 'socially critical, creative, emancipated, pleasurable, inclusive people'. Twenty-five years later, Meerman looks for her daycare-mates, to see what became of them and what happened to the ideals they were raised with.

A documentary chronicling the evolution of quants in finance- the math wizards and computer programmers in the engine room of our global financial system who designed the financial products that almost crashed Wall St. Now they are at the heart of yet another technological revolution in finance: trading at the speed of light.

The pupils from the third class of Middle School #2 in Chongqing, the best school in central China, are being honed to fill important positions in the new global economy. The pupils are children of the new Chinese middle class. Often their parents have lived through hunger and their children must now succeed where they did not. The members of China's youngest generation have the eyes of the world pinned upon them. Will these representatives of the "I want-generation" live up to their promise? Is our fear for these smart, hard working children justified?