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Tu Ne Verras Pas Verapaz| 54mins
Director: Didier Volckaert and An van Dienderen | Producer: van Dienderen An
Focus Years: 2002 | Country: Belgium
Subject Tags: belgium, community, culture, education, europe, migration
Quality Tags: Optimistic, Slow, Activating, Harmonizing
Synopsis:
"Who's coming to Verapaz with us? There's no need to work there. Just drink and eat if you want to. And snooze like a pig." This is an old song from Ghent that refers to an unfamiliar part of Belgium history: the former Belgium colony in Santo Tomas de Castilla, Guatemala. Leopold I had a goal not only to exploit valuable resources, but also to reduce the crime level in Belgium. To achieve this, he inspired rich stock holders to start up the Company of Colonization.' Propaganda was vital: the Company handed out exotic engravings and fake letters supposedly written by Belgian migrants, praising Santo Tomas as a land of plenty and representing Guatemala as a promised land. Van. Dienderen and Didier Volckaert use this song as their starting point as they look for the great-great-grandchildren of Belgian descendants in Guatemala. They bump into Belgian lions, originally shipped into Santo Tomas in 1843, several urban legends about Verapaz, and Belgian descendants, some of whom do not quite know where Belgium is and others whom have visited Belgium and are deeply proud of their Belgium blood. As a poetic road movie, leading the audience from De Muide Ghent to Santo Tomas, Guatemala, the film's aim is to offer a personal exploration of the urge for the 'green grass over the hill,' the El Dorado. It hints at abstract concepts such as cultural identity, nationalism, memory, paradise lost, diaspora narratives, and nostalgia.

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