Documentaries

A Film Treatment
© 2009-2010 By Salvador Lawrence d’Souza

Multi Colours: Verhalen uit Hatert
"The story of Hatert must be told by Hatert itself"

Overview
In Holland, some politicians, right wing parties and the media, often refer to multi cultural and multi ethnic areas as the so-called “problem wijk” or problem neighbourhoods. These areas are linked to crime, poor social interaction, antisocial behaviour and low income, low educated families. Kleurijk Hatert or Colourful Hatert falls into such descriptive aliases.  Multi Colours explores, through the personal perspectives of four families what it means to live in Hatert.

Outline
Beginning: What is the background to Hatert? How was it in the past and when did it become colourful?
Middle: What did old and new neighbours do during this period of social expansion? What have each gained or lost during the process? What unites or tear them apart?
End: Looking back, at present and in the future, what thoughts do they have about each other and the place the all call home?

Logline
Multi culturalism is a discourse that every modern society deals with. Some positively and others choose to either ignore it or take a hardline approach. In Holland, several multi cultural neighbourhoods exist with Amsterdam’s Bijlmer being the leading point of reference. Unfortunately, multi cultural enclaves seem to always be linked to crime and other antisocial activities. The so called 40 wijken van Vogelaar or the list of 40 problem areas were identified and subsequently presented on the 22nd of March 2007 to the Minister for Housing, Communities and Integration. One of such problem areas within the province of Gelderland, in the city of Nijmegen is Hatert - with about 9724 inhabitants. Hatert is one such neighbourhoods whose choice as a problem area is questionable. Telling the story of Hatert through the lives of its inhabitants is urgent. Multiple Colours will explore Hatert through the struggles of a pensioner struggling with illness, share the experiences of a multi racial family, follow a dreams of a young couple and understand the pressures of expressing identity and belonging as a Dutch youth of Turkish origin. In the diverse personal stories, they all share the common Hatert community center, eat from the Chinese restaurant on Sundays and buy bread from the same Bakker Bart.


Scope of Film

Length, Distribution and Media
60mins Theatrical Release on 35mm
47 mins High Definition 1080i television format
30mins Mobile version - Flash, Quicktime, WMA

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