Bloedlijnen

How do you come to terms with a gruesome family history? For generations, both the descendants of enslaved people and the descendants of those who profited from slavery have kept this question buried. But in Bloedlijnen, the silence is finally broken. Through deeply personal narratives, six families explore how the legacy of slavery remains visible today – in archives, in family histories, and in the inequalities that persist.

In Zeeland, different families delve into the past of their ancestors, using the NiNsee archives (National Institute for the Study of Dutch Slavery and its Legacy) and other historical records. While the descendants of slave owners often find detailed family trees and property documents, those of enslaved people are confronted with a painful truth: their ancestors are often reduced to numbers in the records, without names or personal histories. This absence is experienced as a missing part of their identity.

Bloedlijnen highlights the stark contrasts in how different families deal with the legacy of slavery. Some descendants of slave owners visibly struggle with the moral responsibility their family history carries; for many, offering an apology is not a given. Meanwhile, descendants of enslaved people share how the history of slavery continues to shape their lives—not as a distant past, but as a present reality seen in economic inequality, racism, and a continuous fight for recognition.

The film concludes with a series of encounters between the different families—at times uneasy, but ultimately honest and moving. Bloedlijnen makes an essential contribution to the conversation about colonial history, showing that the discussion around slavery is not just the responsibility of institutions like NiNsee or Black Archives, but something that must also take place within white communities. A powerful and urgent film about the impact of history and the question of how we can build a more just future together.