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For months, filmmaker Saskia Vredeveld visited the Penitentiary Institution Overamstel, better known as the Bijlmer Bajes, in Amsterdam. She not only filmed the day-to-day life inside the prison, but also started asking the inmates about their dreams, both in the past and for the future. Whether the men have been locked up for shoplifting, drug trafficking or murder, they all immediately understand what Vredeveld is asking. Sometimes, their dreams for the future put them behind bars ('As a child, I dreamt of becoming a crook'), but generally the reason is a disrupted dream. 'You start with two grams of heroin, then ten grams, and then you're arrested at Schiphol in possession of 17,585 grams. I feel regret. You just see your dream being shattered.' And some of them refuse to dream, because '' you can't realise them in prison, anyway'.

Credits

Production company
Springbok Film
TV company
Human

Title: Bijlmer Bajes Blues
Year: 2003
Duration : 50 minutes
Category: Short Documentary
Edition: NFF 2003

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