De vuurtoren

Three-part TV series about a dreamy boy who grows up in a small village on the IJsselmeer. The whole series, spoken in Frisian, is situated around 1950. At first the world of the fifteen-year-old protagonist does not extend any further than the boundary of the village. When he is first confronted with sexuality, love and death, he starts to see his familiar yet oppresive world through different eyes. The lighthouse on the dike is a symbol for his desire to escape the narrow-mindedness of his surroundings. He comes here to look out across the sea, a symbol of the obstacles to be conquered. The Lighthouse filmmaker Pieter Verhoeff provides a very autobiographical sketch of youth.