A portrait of the family of a Surinamese teacher of Asian descent in Paramaribo before and just after the military coup in that South American ex-Dutch colony in 1979. The family still has close links with the former colonial master and lives between doubt and expectation in the volatile social and political situation in Surinam. Where must they seek their future, in Surinam or Holland? Tbe Meatball video collective also made a 90 minute version of 'Een plaats onder de zon' (A Place in the Sun) which examines the parallels and differences between the life, work and thought of the Surinamese family and a comparable Dutch family. Tbe latter version aims to increase mutual understanding between the Dutch and their Surinamese immigrant neighbours. Four youths in an old inner-city area of The Hague and one outsider from an affluent family. They shall never become good friends, but the five of them do join up to empty a mansion of its contents. Eventually tbey are all caught, but how will they be treated by police and the courts? The scenario for this drama production was written in close cooperation with the main characters, detectives, uniformed policemen and lawyers. All the dialogues were improvised on the spot and everyone in this production plays themselves, be they 'scum', police officer or lawyer. The courts however refused to co operate, magistrates claiming that the story was 'unbalanced' and 'smelt of class justice...'
'Tuig' (Scum) was broadcast nationally in Holland by the VPRO Television.
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