Anak Indië

The Netherlands has over two million people with roots in the former colony of the Dutch East Indies, of whom over 300,000 were forced to repatriate to the Netherlands after the Second World War. For Dutch-Indonesians, Moluccan families and Peranakan Chinese, it meant a new beginning in a country that did not always welcome them with open arms.

Using collage animations, music, 8mm archive footage and personal stories of famous Dutch Indies people such as Yvonne Keuls, Adriaan van Dis and Wieteke van Dort, the film shows how they had to build a new life. Photographer Claude Vanheye shows his path to success, a road that was anything but paved, while illustrator Thé Tjong-Khing emphasises the feeling of being displaced: he feels neither Chinese nor Dutch. The archive footage illustrates the feeling that many people with roots in the Dutch East Indies have: the feeling of being born between two cultures. This is emphasised by the moving piano playing of composer/musician Mariëtte Hehakaya, who brings together the worlds of Moluccan culture and Dutch culture.

Against this background, Anak Indië tells about typical intangible heritage. From the Indonesian rice table to music, from visual culture to the Nijmegen four-day march — all deeply interwoven in Dutch society. Anak Indië is a film about resilience, identity and a shared past — a past that is still tangible and visible in the Netherlands today.