In the fifties, a banker's son from The Hague made the headlines as Jungle Rudy. All by himself, he had hiked into the tropical forest of Venezuela where, sick and exhausted, he was saved by Indians. Subsequently, he stayed on in the wilderness where he and his family founded the exotic holiday resort Ucaima, which was visited by the great of the earth.
Rob Smits started a search for Jungle Rudy, who died in 1994. His second daughter Gaby runs Ucaima nowadays. She disposes of boxes of home movies, cassette tapes and letters, which Smits freely drew from. Illustrated by breathtaking scenery, a psychological portrait arises of a restless man who broke away from his background and proceeded to transfer it to the Venezuelan jungle. He left his Austrian wife for a life as a playboy in Caracas, but wept bitter tears when she died.
One of his daughters says: 'It seemed forbidden to discuss personal matters'. But Rudy's three daughters, for their part, are also unable to break free from their roots.
Credits
Director
Producer
Executive producer
Scenario
Camera
Set geluid
Sound Design
Muziek
Production company
Submarine Film
TV company
NTR
Distributor NL
Cinema Delicatessen
Gouden Kalf winner
Beste Montage (2006)
Chris van Oers
Beste Montage (2006)
Menno Boerema
Beste Montage (2006)
Eugenie Jansen
Beste Montage (2006)
Albert Elings
Gouden Kalf nominees
Beste Lange Documentaire (2006)
Rob Smits
Beste Sound Design (2006)
Mark Glynne
NFF Archive
You are now in the NFF Archive. The archive contains contains information on film, TV and interactive productions that were screened at past festival editions. The NFF does not dispose of this material. For this, please contact the producer, distributor or broadcaster. Sometimes, older films can also be found at the Eye Film Museum or the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision.