Tussen wal en schip

A journey through history, a confrontation with silence. In Tussen wal en schip, three grandchildren—Jip, Kyron, and Benjamin—take their Dutch-Indonesian grandparents to the place where they first arrived in the Netherlands, hoping to break through a past long shrouded in silence. Through intimate yet structured conversations, they attempt to bridge generations and come to terms with an identity shaped by forced migration, colonial legacies, and unspoken trauma.

For many Indo-Dutch families, the pain of the past remains locked away. Their grandparents, once displaced from Indonesia in the aftermath of decolonisation, rarely shared their stories. Now, with deep curiosity, care, and love, the grandchildren seek to create space for dialogue, navigating the complexities of intergenerational trauma, survival, and belonging. As the first generation of Dutch-Indonesian migrants slowly disappears, Tussen wal en schip becomes an invaluable time capsule—capturing their memories before they are lost forever.

This documentary is especially poignant in a city like The Hague, home to a large Dutch-Indonesian community. By giving voice to those who lived through these experiences, Tussen wal en schip invites audiences to reflect on the silences that persist and the healing that can begin when stories are finally told.