Ver van familie

It is 1986. In the Netherlands, the Indonesian grandma Em, the daughter of a German man and a Javanese mother, is on her deathbed. But grandma Em does not want to leave before having spoken to her American granddaughter Barbie about some unsolved family mysteries. In 1945, after the Japanese occupation, freedom fighters declared Indonesia independent. In the following years, many people emigrated from the former Dutch colony to the Netherlands. Most of them had never been here. Those unable to settle in went to other countries, like the US. Such as Buddy, grandma Em's son and Barbie's father. Barbie, invariably with a cigarette in her mouth and a guitar on her back, comes to Holland to see her grandma, but other relatives want to prevent their meeting. All family members have their individual secrets. During Barbie's complicated search for grandma Em, we hear Barbie's sensitive guitar songs. The film also portrays the 1970s and 1980s, presented in flashbacks.