Jan van den Berg

Het galgenven

Photographer Anna Smeets makes reportages all over the world. When her mother dies unexpectedly, she returns to her native Limburg village for the funeral. She decides to move into her mother's studio on the edge of the Galgenven and make pictures in the vein of her mother's paintings of the village and its inhabitants and the unique nature surrounding it. While Anna thus tries to regain her identity, it turns out that part of that nature will have to yield to project developers' plans. A fierce battle flares up between Anna and large landowner Hyacint de Beaumont. The village, where many people depend on him, is divided. When Anna finally seems to be all alone, she receives help from unexpected quarters. This has dramatic consequences.

Taming the Floods

Taming the Floods fulfills the dream of the landscape architect Jan Dijkstra: he can design an area in Poland that is regularly flooded by the river. Dijkstra wants to create a large nature reserve where people no longer have any influence: an area where the river can run its course and wolves can be set free. The fanatical landscape architect however does not bear in mind the needs of the local people. His younger colleague David is eventually sent to Poland to get things organised. Taming the Floods is a mixture of documentary and feature in which all the scenes are borrowed from situations which really happen or have happened. Alongside actors, roles are played by the local people, including farmers and a priest.