Tegen het vergeten

An Iraqi artist struggles with the war memories he incorporates in his paintings, while his Dutch-speaking children draw what they think Iraq might look like. An old man softly sings an old Dutch song, but no longer recognises his relatives in a photo album. A photographer explains his motivation to capture things, while his pictures are alternated with film shots of the same locations. An old woman, who was imprisoned in a Japanese POW camp in the Netherlands’ East Indies, has made lists of everything. She knows how many kilometres she has flown in how many flights from how many airports. She always kept everything in boxes. But now that she moves into a smaller house, she has to choose what she will bring with her. Director Tamara Miranda interlaces their comments and actions into a general impression of remembering and forgetting in elderly people. One is 92 and still has a fine memory, but no children to tell her stories to, the other no longer recognises herself in the mirror and clasps a toy baby in her arms. The fragments of memories blend into one another, showing the role of everything which can resist oblivion: photographs, paintings, souvenirs, lists – and films. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)