De werkelijkheid van Jan Vrijman

At her father's cremation someone said to director Fabie Hulsebos she was probably very proud of him. That person unintentionally touched a sore spot by referring to journalist, columnist and filmmaker Jan Vrijman (1925-1997), the public figure she hardly knew. Her father was Jan Hulsebos, a depressed man who suffered from insomnia and was often absent, not just physically, but also mentally. In this documentary, she tries to get to know Vrijman better. She has conversations with her mother and sisters and also interviews his close colleagues and friends. Remco Campert, Matthijs van Heijningen, Henk Hofland, Frans Weisz talk about a driven, contagiously energetic man. His various projects, successful or not, are extensively discussed: the victorious Dutch pavilion at the 1970 World Expo in Japan and his film, mercilessly slashed in the Netherlands, but awarded in Berlin, De werkelijkheid van Karel Appel. In the process, the spectator gets to know more about this highly influential man.