Heengaan en thuiskomen

In HEENGAAN EN THUISKOMEN director Annegriet Wietsma links the joy for the birth of her children to the grief for the death of her mother. It has become a film about the roots of identity. Her children have Frisian, Jewish, Indonesian and Dutch ancestors. In four short portraits of their grandparents those backgrounds are described. After all, as old age and death come nearer the question as to where you come from becomes increasingly urgent. "To determine whether someone feels a tie with his native soil, you have to ask him where he would like to be buried. The answer turns out to be very revealing. A lot of people arrive at their family roots", Wietsma says. In order to give her children their own roots, she made them birth stones which she bricked in in the house where they were born. In this way they have their own place for contemplation.