How the inhabitants of a village in the southeast of Holland experience Corpus Christi, featuring the brass band, the laying of a multicoloured sawdust carpet and as a nerve-wracking highlight the traditional koningsschieten.
On Corpus Christi, a festival in honour of the Eucharist, celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, a procession is held carrying the Holy of Holies. This film follows a few inhabitants of the village of Limbricht before and on this day.
Using coloured sawdust, people lay out a multi-coloured 'carpet', which the procession strides over to the sounds of a brass band. The local rifle club Sint Salvius traditionally accompanies the procession, which is concluded by koningsschieten, in which people try to shoot a wooden bird from a pole. The person firing the decisive shot may call himself King for a year. The current King, Peter, can even acquire the honorary title of Emperor if he manages to take down the bird for the third consecutive time. That has not happened since 1923. Nervously, Peter asks the priest to put in a good word for him, but the clergyman says he is unable to 'force things'. The tension mounts to fever pitch.
The documentary shows how shared traditions keep a small community together. In line with Michiel van Erp's work, the film zooms in on sympathetic human traits.
Credits
Director
Producer
Set geluid
Geluidsnabewerking
Production company
C*View productions
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