Meneer L.

An Asian tourist visits the touristic highlights that the Netherlands has to offer. After losing his passport – due to biased assumptions about his identity – he ends up in a refugee asylum situated on a former luxury cruise ship in Amsterdam. Awaiting a solution to his precarious situation, he manages to start special friendships with the residents of the asylum through non-verbal communication.

After falling asleep under a Dutch windmill and left behind by a group of fellow travelers, an Asian tourist wakes up completely lost and without all his belongings. Walking around Groningen, he is mistaken for an asylum seeker. Because he is not able to communicate his situation, before he knows it, he ends up in an asylum centre that is situated on a former cruise ship in Amsterdam.

Now stuck in the bureaucracy of his ‘asylum application’, he lives together and amongst the other residents of the ship. Despite the fact that he can only communicate non-verbally, he is still able to make friends with them. The refugees confide their stories with him and he is able to understand them on an emotional level. This hybrid film is inspired by true events and is developed with non-actors and refugees who play themselves on the ship where they actually reside.