Carel van Hees

Filmic registration of the seasons on two square kilometres of the Rotterdam Kop van Zuid district, where you can find all big city contradictions and developments. Old areas with their characteristic inhabitants, old and new, spectacular new buildings in deserted harbour sites.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, photographer and filmmaker Carel van Hees (2KM2 - het heden van de stad, IFFR 2006) is forced to turn his apartment in Rotterdam's RVS flats into his own little world. The apartment, originally built as a home for working single women, is also known as the Hunkerbunker (the bunker of yearning), now its residents' lives are confined to their units. On the tenth floor van Hees meets Gerarda van Nimwegen, a 106-year-old woman who hasn’t left her apartment for the past five years. During her long life she has survived many crises, including the Spanish flu, the poverty of the interbellum and the bombing of Rotterdam – all this without losing her sense of humour. Berichten uit de Hunkerbunker is a loving tribute to a remarkable resident whose life has come to a halt in the apartment she’s lived in since the age of 44.

People. Young and old, fat and thin, black and white. Sand, sea, wind and clouds, a day at the beach. In the background, the decor of ships entering and leaving port. Ego and vanity, machismo, insecurity and unconditional love, brought together on a small stretch of land. Don't Catch My Face is an ode to life.

For years, Piet le Blanc, replete with sax and violin, was a well-known sight in the streets and cafés of Rotterdam by night. But before he roamed the streets, he played in various large and small orchestras. A documentary by Carel van Hees and Martijn 't Hart about the life of a special, truly Rotterdam musician.