NOTHING LASTS FOREVER

Year:
1990
Length:
74 minutes

Tagline:
Documentary about industrial archaeology and industrial history in the Netherlands.

Logline:
By means of six objects from different times the history of industrial development in the Netherlands is told in a poetic manner.

Synopsis:
The film looks at the industrialisation of the Netherlands as an underrated aspect of cultural history. Past and present blend into each other. After an introduction, the historic development of industrialisation is followed with several very different objects from different Ages dotted throughout Holland playing a crucial role in the film: a steam engine in the Mastenbroek pumping station, a railway bridge in Rotterdam, the Freia dairy in Friesland, the Van Heek textile factory in Enschede, a miner’s cottage in Schaesberg, a biscuit factory in Utrecht and a power station near Vlissingen. A factory director, a retired miner, an industrial archaeologist and a volunteer engineer explain their involvement with the building, bridge or machine. Almost all possible scenarios are examined, from demolition to preservation.
The first part of the film is primarily informative. A narrator provides concrete information, another voice colours in more personal associations. The sounds in the film occasionally transcend the reality, full of suggestion and stylisation. Towards the end, the personal poetic images turn out to be the real basis for the film.

Crew:
scenario & direction: Digna Sinke
camera: Goert Giltaij, Eugene van den Bosch, Jan Wich
sound & sound edit: Jan Wouter van Reijen
sound: Lukas Boeke, Piotr van Dijk
re-recording mix: Jack Bol
laboratory: Cineco
voices: Eveline de Mooij, Digna Sinke
production manager: Ineke van Gulik
producer: René Scholten / Studio Nieuwe Gronden

this film is financially supported by:
CoBO-fonds
Stimuleringsfonds Nederlandse Culturele Omroepproducties
NOS televisie