How do we live in Europe? What do we really know about our �fellow countrymen�? With its partners, Franco-German channel ARTE inaugurated an ambitious collection of twenty documentaries which explore the lives of various inhabitants of the European Union. Be they squatters, ministers, farmers or holidaymakers, they were followed by young film-makers from their country equipped only with a basic digital camera. These are entertaining portraits which both arouse our curiosity and encourage reflection, sometimes with a provocative and ironic tone.

Parallel portraits of two economic immigrants: a Dutch farmer who dreams of Poland and a Romanian illegal worker who tries to go to Italy.
Henk is a Dutch farmer who cannot really see much of a future for he and his family in Great Britain. An economic immigrant, he has only one thing on his mind � to move to Poland and buy a farm there. At least in Poland there are no milk quotas. At the same time, Robert, a Romanian, can no longer afford to meet his family�s needs, and so attempts to get into Austria illegally so he can cross the border to Italy, where he hopes to find work�

Credits

Directed by

Frantz Moritz & Monique Nolte

Produced by

Cie des phares et balises & MOISAIC FILMS (G.B), Arte G.E.I.E., BBC (G.B), TV2 (DK), YLE (FIN), NPS (P.B), TV4 (SUE)

Technical information

Copyright :

2000

Running time:

26 minutes

Broadcasts :

Arte (06/15/00), BBC (U.K), TV2 (DK), YLE (FIN), NPS (NL), TV4 (SWE)