Uit het hart van Odessa

'Do you drink vodka?', a visibly tipsy inhabitant of Odessa asks filmmaker André Schreuders, gazing into the camera. Next, without asking, a woman takes him to a backstreet and shows him a dilapidated house. The citizens of Odessa like to be filmed. But life in the slum is very meagre and the people feel abandoned by the government in Kiev. The leading role in this documentary is for the music. The Amsterdam-based musician Alec Kopyt is back in his native city and is asked to do a big concert there. Schreuders follows him during his search for local musicians to play with. The Yiddish tradition is still very strongly represented in the former Russian town, which is now part of the Ukraine. Indeed, according to a pianist, all inhabitants of Odessa are of Jewish descent.