Production
Currently, purchasing cannabis is done through 'the back door'. What is sold legally is purchased illegally. The end of 2019 marked the start of a four-year experiment in which cannabis grown under state supervision is legally traded. This should lead to less crime and better quality weed with fewer harmful substances. After a strict selection procedure, ten growers are selected who can supply this government weed. Bromet follows seasoned grower John - who wanted to run his nursery as legally and transparently as possible, but still lost everything after a lawsuit - and the businessmen of plan C who want to grow cannabis for the first time. Bromet also interviews coffee shop owners, politicians involved and both supporters and opponents. A follow-up documentary was made in 2024.
Documentary about the monument Joods Werkdorp.
Documentaries are broadcast every week on Dutch TV Channel NPO 2 under the name 2Doc: inspiring stories of the here and now.
Programme maker Frans Bromet visits eight public libraries with camera and microphone and speaks to visitors, staff, and volunteers. The idea that libraries are boring institutions where you only go to borrow books and CDs turns out to be completely outdated. Everyone is welcome in the library, it is a pleasant place to spend time, and not unimportantly: the library is the only public place that is accessible for free all day long. From the homeless person to the millionaire and from the student to the pensioner: the library is a place where the whole of the Netherlands comes together.
The arrival of the taxi app Uber is causing anger among existing taxi drivers. If the police do not intervene, they take matters into their own hands. In Taxibotsing, Frans Bromet follows the battle waged by the established taxi world against Uber, a small online program that aims to eventually dominate the Dutch transport market. The battle is being fought on various levels. While the courts must determine whether the UberPop service is illegal (because drivers lack a license or do not pay taxes), the newcomer is an unpleasant reality for established taxi drivers. Livelihood theft, as well as resentment over colleagues going to work for the despised enemy, is turning the atmosphere on the streets grim.
Arnon Grunberg leaves his parental home in Amsterdam South when he is eighteen. He wants to become an actor and escape his childhood nest, his dominant mother, and his taciturn father. By now, he is 44 and returns to his parents. Arnon Grunberg leaves New York for the Netherlands to write a book about his mother, Hannelore Klein. During conversations about the war years, the tension between mother and son becomes palpable, as does the unconditional love they feel for each other. The conversations are interspersed with intimate scenes, revealing the world the writer has always carefully shielded from his public life.
Eduard van Dijk's home has become uninhabitable. While clearing it out, emotional memories of his father, who died as a resistance fighter in the Natzweiler concentration camp, surface for Eduard. In Verstopt, Bromet follows an old friend of Eduard's: Vera. She helps to make Eduard's house habitable again. During the clearing process, it becomes clear how strongly Eduard is attached to all his belongings: with every book he picks up, he has a special memory. Will Vera succeed in making the house habitable again? And will Eduard manage to part with the items to which he feels so emotionally connected?
Frans Bromet follows scoot drivers of different ages about their lives. He talks to them about what has changed since they got a mobility scooter, about how their living space has increased, about the limitations of the vehicle and about what is and is no longer possible in private.
Documentary series by Frans Bromet about the relationship between man and his best friend: the dog.
Documentary about whistleblower Frits Veerman, who in the 1970s exposed the nuclear espionage at Urenco in which his Pakistani colleague Abdul Khan smuggled nuclear data out of the country. He was fired and fought for 40 years for rehabilitation. Frans Bromet examines the moral compass of the headstrong whistleblower in the politically shadowy and high-profile espionage scandal. Bromet wants to understand what underlies years of backroom politics, an intelligence agency that refuses to grant access to the file, and international interests that apparently prevail over the protection of an observant citizen by his government. The fact that the Dutch State takes no responsibility in this matter weighs heavily, literally and figuratively, on Veerman. The threat of a nuclear bomb remains real. Will a potential rehabilitation offer the satisfaction he has been waiting for forty years?
Frans Bromet seeks out representatives of various right-wing movements, opinion leaders, and parties. He wants to know what their vision of the future Netherlands looks like. What do they stand for, rather than what are they against?
In 2022, 92% of those affected encountered aggression or violence. Frans Bromet portrays six influences who encounter violence while carrying out their work. The violence with which the actual consequences are, leaves personal physical, especially mental, traces.
41-year-old receptionist and part-time Lucky Luke imitator Rutger stands in the shadow of his alter ego, the cowboy who shoots faster than his shadow. In a last-ditch attempt to become a comic book hero, he wages war against the disappointments of everyday life and draws a comic strip starring himself. And why not? With a little imagination, we are all comic book heroes in our daily lives.
You are Jewish when your mother is too. But when a Jewish mother is absent, it is still possible to become Jewish, namely through the phenomenon of 'coming out'. Frans Bromet portrays various individuals preparing to come out: people who are already Jewish and rabbis—Orthodox and Liberal—who make coming out possible, sometimes against their will.
Uit elkaar is a two-part documentary by filmmakers Frans and Silvia Bromet. They followed couples who are forced to live separately after a long marriage. One of them has dementia, and living at home is no longer possible. What do you do then?
In the small village of Noord Rhoon, a group of concerned citizens has established a Citizens' Watch. Frans Bromet investigates. The emergence of citizens' watches is a clear trend in the Netherlands. Hardly a village or neighborhood remains free of the 'WhatsApp Neighborhood Watch' sign. The centralization of government over the past decades has led, particularly in smaller municipalities, to a subtle but visible deterioration of the living environment. The space created by increasingly distant local government is being filled by residents. They organize themselves on social media and, for example, conduct patrols through the neighborhood. But to what extent is such a citizens' watch desirable? How does the local government deal with this? And where does the line lie between civic duty and meddling?
Criticism of Israel is often labeled as antisemitism, particularly by a segment of the Jewish community. To what extent is this the case? Frans Bromet asks people with differing viewpoints on this complex subject.
Making mistakes is human. But when doctors make mistakes, it often has far-reaching consequences. Frans Bromet speaks with doctors who have made serious medical errors. Talking about mistakes is by no means a matter of course within the medical profession. The trust that the patient places in the doctor proves to be a great asset. Betraying that trust is a devastating experience for the medical professionals. Yet they are willing to speak openly ‘because otherwise you deny the patient and their family the opportunity to understand, to process what has happened.’ But above all, because you can only learn from mistakes by making them open for discussion. Only then can hospitals actually take measures or implement improvements.
Whistleblowers stick their necks out by exposing workplace misconduct. This is usually not appreciated. Filmmaker Frans Bromet speaks with whistleblowers about the far-reaching consequences that 'whistleblowing' has on their lives. The lives of the whistleblowers Bromet speaks to are irreparably damaged. Amidst stacks of binders and newspaper articles about what happened, the personal drama unfolds.
Dutch men commit suicide twice as often as women. Why is that? Filmmaker Frans Bromet investigates, together with journalist Nathan Vos, what is going on with men.
