Boxing in the South Side (2013) A documentary series by Roy Dames and Wouter Scheepstra about the racial-and social tensions in the south side of Rotterdam. The south side is the biggest quarter in Holland with the highest rate of unemployment, crime, bad housing and education. During the last years millions of euro’s from the central-and local government are invested in the quarter, with virtually no result. Since 2012 the National Program Rotterdam South District is started. With this program the local and central government wants to improve education, employment, housing and decline crime. The main character is Frans, owner of a boxing school situated in the Afrikaander-district, one of the most criminal area’s in the city. You will see all races, religions, nationalities and levels of education in the school. And all goes well between each other. What’s is Frans secret? Why is Frans succeeding while the local-and central government with all their millions is failing. The boxing school is Rotterdam on a small scale. How the boxing students experience the problems in the south side? What do they think about the new National Program? What is the real situation? In this series we try to give an answer to these questions. The eeries is aired in august and september 2013 by the Dutch public broadcaster NTR. Producer: René Mendel of Interakt.
My genius brother Harry (2013) A personal documentary. The film starts in a church situated in the city of Beverwijk, Holland. The brothers Harry (died in 1974, a very talented student in astronomy) and Roy (filmmaker) visited this church during their youth in the fifties and sixties of the last century the church nearly every day. The film shows the influence of Harry – after his death – on Roy’s life and the existential questions raised by the Roy followed upon Harry’s death. The film is aired by the Dutch public broadcaster EO in may 2013. Producer: Janneke Doolaard of Keydocs. Length: 55 minutes.
Sexpolice (2012)
A documentary about 2 police detectives figthing against women trafficking and forced sexworking in the city of The Haque and the region around. The film was shown on IDFA 2012 and aired in january 2013 by the Dutch public broadcaster NCRV. Producer: Janneke Doolaard of Keydocs, Amsterdam. Length: 85 minutes
Mocros (2011)
An observational 75 minutes film about five dutch youngsters from Moroccan origin in Rotterdam, followed by the camera from 2003 upto 2011, during the increasing tension in Dutch society between – moslim – immigrants and the original Dutch population. This find it’s peak in the killing of Theo van Gogh, filmmaker and journalist by a moslim fundamentalist. The film is taken from the perspective of the youngsters. The film is released during the Dutch Filmfestival in september 2011, and – because of it’s controversial subject – the film received a lot of press coverage (newspapers, magazines, radio, television). It’s the follow-up of the documentary I am Mohammed (2005) and is screened in cinemas accross the Netherlands and aired by the NTR
Lengte/Length: 75 minutes, Dutch and English version available.
Distributie: Mokum Film
Dossier loverboy (2011)
Dossier Loverboy is a documentary series by Roy Dames about the victims of loverboys. Together with Anita de Wit, founder of StopLoverboys.Nu, they try to confront loverboys with their criminal acts. The series received a very positive press in The Netherlands. Loverboy has become a common name in The Netherlands for men who abuse young women sexually and try to force them into prostitution. The series was broadcasted by the NPS (now NTR).
Length: 4 x 25 minutes
Wrong Fellows / Foute vrienden (2010)
Documentary about four maffia-like friends based in Amsterdam. But they are nice guys. Winner of the ‘Beeld en Geluid Award 2010 (important Dutch televisionprize) and selected by the Dutch Filmfestival 2010. The characters of Wrong Fellows were portrayed earlier in Forever friends/Vrienden voor het leven (2000) and I am Johnnie/Ik ben Jantje (1994) by Roy Dames. He followed them for 16 years. Aired by the NPS (now NTR).
Lenght: 90 minutes
There is something cooking / GIST (2009)
Four portraits of multi-ethnical districts in Europe, with ethnical entrepreneurs as the main characters, showing the integration of migrants in modern Europe in a comelling way. Aired by the NPS.
Length: 4 x 50 minutes
Going back / Terug (2008)
Documentary series about asylum seekers in Holland who return to their homeland on voluntary basis. Roy Dames follows four cases of former asylum seekers who didn’t get a permit to stay in Holland and have to return. The series shows how they start a new life in their homecountry. Broadcasted by NPS.
Length: 4 x 50 min.
Loverboys (2008)
A documentary about Kelly, a victim of a loverboy, who ended because of forced drug trafficking in a jail in Spain. She was sentenced for 5 years jail. After a stay of 2 years in the Spanish jail, because of health problems, she was transported to The Netherlands where she could serve her sentence. Her loverboy is still in the business.
Broadcasted by the NPS
Length: 25 minutes
Vilage in the city / Dorp in de stad (2007)
A documentary series about a very special district at the outskirts of the city of Rotterdam. A district in which the law is not permitted and dare to enter, the residents decides themselves what’s right or wrong.
Broadcasted by SBS-6, The Netherlands
Lenght: 4 x 25 minutes
Williams Canteen / Willem’s Kantine (2006)
Documentary series about the people from the Rotterdam based pub ‘Willem’s Kantine’ in Rotterdam-West. In 6 episodes the employees and regular customers are portrayed. Broadcasted by SBS-6 and TV Rijnmond.
Length: 6 x 25 min.
Matchmakers (2006)
A documentary about dating of Jewish young people. In the film 2 young women and 1 young man are a year followed with the camera in their search to the right one. Broadcasted by NIK, length: 55 minutes.
I am Mohammed / Ik ben Mohammed (2005)
This documentary gives an intimitate and sometimes confronting view of the daily life of a couple of young Morrocan men in Rotterdam. How difficult is it for them to find a job, to stay away from the criminal scene, to be loyal to their parents on the one hand and to make their own decisions on the other hand. I Am Mohammed is a documentary about chances and choises, temptation and religion, dreams and reality. Nominated for the Golden Calf during the Dutch Film Festival 2005. Selected for the Rotterdam Filmfestival and Prix Europa 2006. Also shown in Maroc and Jordan. Broadcasted by NPS.
Length: 58 minutes.
26.000 faces, back to Bosnia (2005)
Short film about a family from which the Bosnian husband is illegal in Holland and is forced by Dutch law to return to his country.
Length: 2 minutes
Boundaries of Pleasure / Grenzen van genot (2004)
This documentary series tells three separate stories about human sexuality in all its diversities. Part 1 and 2 are released as Between dope and love / Tussen dope en liefde and as one feature-length documentary. Masters of the Game / Meesters van het spel is part 3 and 4 and finally My mother, the whore / Mijn moeder, de hoer part 5.
The series was broadcasted by Net 5
Length: 5 x 40 minutes
Between dope and love / Tussen dope en liefde
For his film Between dope and love, filmmaker Roy Dames followed the heroin addict Klaas and his Moroccan girlfriend Narcis for two years. Klaas is proud of his muscular body, which enables him to pay for his habit by prostituting himself to men. This has given him an independent life. As long as he makes his money solely from men, Narcis does not mind his work. She is thankful to him for easing her away from her Moroccan parents. She does everything to get Klaas off drugs. Because for his dope he does not shrink from car theft and devises a plan to extract a large sum of money from one of his clients, a member of the Dutch parliament. Dames follows Klaas and Narcis in their footsteps with his camera, making a probing portrait of the life of a drug addict and his girlfriend.
Broadcasted by NET5 in the series Boundaries of Pleasure / Grenzen van Genot, part 1 and 2.
Selected for the Netherlands Film Festival 2004
Length: 80 minutes and for television 2 x 40 minutes
Masters of the Game / Meesters van het spel is the title of part 3 and 4. It tells the story of Rien and Hans. Both are into sado-masochism, both can act as a master, but they both prefer being a submissive slave. They play often together, until Hans signs a contract for a year, in which he promises to dedicate himself to a German master. Rien doesn’t give up and decides to teach Hans a lesson. Although Masters of the game may look extreme on the outside, it’s actually a story about a neverending search for tenderness and love.
Length: 2 x 40 minutes.
The last part My Mother, the Whore / Mijn moeder, de hoer focuses on Iris, a woman who’s been working as a prostitute for more than 20 years. From the dirty streets in Italy, a hookersfarm in the northern part of Holland, to the champagne at Yab Yum, she’s seen and done it all. Eventually the act she’s been playing for decades takes its toll. Abandonend by everybody, including her children, she tries to get her life back on track.
Length: 40 minutes.
Andrew and Rasa, a modern love story (2002)
Rasa is a Lithuanian woman selling her body for heroin and cocaine. The drugs cause wounds in her gaunt face and aggravate her epilepsy to boot. Her boyfriend Andrew is a smooth talker from Surinam who thinks he can earn enough money to get them out of their sad straits by smuggling XTC to the United States. Things do not go as hoped for, and at one stage they are both in prison. Even there, they are filmed by the crew of director Roy Dames, who follows their troublesome but indestructible relationship for one year. He interviews them, watches them collapse, start again, and collapse again. Indirectly, his film is also a portrait of the Rotterdam Paulus Church and its indefatigable staff members, who have to make tough decisions in their attempts to keep people on their feet.
Broadcasted by NET5 (Length: 70 minutes)
Ruud & Ria, Till Death Do Us Part / Ruud & Ria, Tot De Dood Ons Scheidt (2002)
Muhammad Ali was unable to knock him to the canvas. For twelve rounds, Rudi Lubbers, one of Holland’s most successful boxers ever, stayed on his feet against the boxing legend. But he only really learned to take left and right hooks during his twenty-year long relationship with Ria, a fairground attraction owner and the love of his life. Already in the beginning of the film, the comparison with Ali forces itself upon the spectator, when Lubbers dances in front of the camera, bragging and shadowboxing.But in the (usually just) verbal fights with his ever-sneering Rietje, he grows smaller and smaller. When he disappears without a trace after the umpteenth squabble, it is clear that Ria, despite her big mouth, is devoted to her champion. And apparently Ruud is unable to live without his partner, either. In this revealing, hilarious and tragic document, director Roy Dames demonstrates how thin the line is between love and hate.
Broadcasted by NPS (Length: 55 minutes)
Rudi Bakker – Until the bitter end / Tot het bittere einde (2002)
On Saturday the 13th of May 2000 a massive explosion at the SE Fireworks factory in the city of Enschede killed 22 people and injured almost a thousand. Hundreds of houses where destroyed in the blast. In this documentary director Roy Dames portraits the former managing director of SE Fireworks during part of the lawsuit after the disaster. Rudi Bakker looks back on what happened and reflects on his own responsibility.
Part of the series Colored Truth / Gekleurde Waarheid and broadcasted bij NPS.
Length: 25 minutes.
High Risk / Verhoogd risico (2002)
Documentary about a gay red beret army commander, part of the series Colored Truth / De Gekleurde Waarheid.
Broadcasted by NPS
Length: 25 minutes
Abandoned by God / Van god verlaten (2001)
Documentary series about the Rotterdam based Paulus church and their homeless and often addicted.
Broadcasted by Net5
Length: 4 x 40 minutes.
On the brink of Life / Op de drempel van het leven (2001)
Documentary series about terminally ill patients, their families and social workers in a hospice.
Broadcasted by EO
Length: 3 x 40 minutes
Forever friends / Vrienden voor het leven (2000)
Documentary about three Amsterdam criminals. Follow-up of the 1994 documentary I Am Johnny/ Ik Ben Jantje (1994).
Broadcasted by NPS.
Length: 60 minutes.
The Promised Land / Het beloofde land (1999)
Documentary about two refugies who live illegal in The Netherlands. Broadcasted by NPS, RNTV and NHK in Japan.
Length: 50 minutes.
The Struggle for Coca / Bolivia, het eerste coca land zonder coca? (1999)
Documentary about coca cultivators in Bolivia during the War On Drugs. Broadcasted by EO, SDR (Germany) and several other European countries.
Length: 1 x 50 minutes and 1 x 30 minutes
Homeless / Ontheemd (1998)
Documentary series about the life of homeless people in The Netherlands.
Broadcasted by NCRV
Length: 3 x 40 minutes
Bacchus (1997)
Documentary series about four alcohol addicts in Amsterdam.
Broadcasted by KRO (Length: 2 x 50 minutes)
I′am Johnnie / Ik ben Jantje (1994)
Documentary about four Amsterdam based criminals.
Broadcasted by NOS (Length: 50 minutes)
Pandora’s trail / In het spoor van Pandora (1992)
Documentary about women slave trade in Portugal and Spain. Broadcasted by RVU (Holland), ORF (Austria) and SDR (Germany). Length: 40 minutes.
Roy Dames is also (co) producer of the following documentaries (series): Suspect and in custody (2010, NPS), Trans Europe (2009, series, NPS), Just leave daddy be (2008, TV Rijnmond), Window-cleaners (2005, short, cinema), Why no future (2004, series, NPS), The law is blind (2001, NCRV), Show people (2001, series, NCRV), The young wild ones (2000, NPS), Woat et oale es (1999, EO), The market (1998, series, RTL 4), The sailing doctor (1997, series, NCRV), The daimond empire (1995, series, Tros, BBC, Boston TV, ABC Australia), A wall of silence (1994, EO, ORF, ZDF), Traces of oil (1993, series, RVU, ORF), The Calling (1990, AVRO), Charlotte’s Dairy (1988, AVRO), Nightwatch (1987, TROS). Feature film: Seven Invisible men (2005, fiction, cinema).