Kibboets op de klei

Kibboets op 'e klaai is a documentary series about a Jewish kibbutz on the outskirts of Franeker between 1934 and 1941. The young residents have a great ideal: they want to emigrate as farmers to Palestine and build a new life there. Of the more than ninety pioneers who have lived in the Franeker kibbutz, more than half are able to emigrate to Palestine in the 1930s. They are hardened by their work on farms in the Franeker area. Other residents are confronted with the outbreak of the Second World War during their education. This puts an end to their dreams.

The series is based on two short films made by amateur filmmaker Jacob Bramson, initiator and supervisor of the kibbutz in Franeker. His films not only show the farm work of the young people, but also how they lived together on the kibbutz.

When Syds Wiersma of the Frisian Film & Audio Archive gets his hands on this historical film material, he becomes fascinated by this unknown history and the pleasure and zest for life that play out in the images. Together with cameraman Gerko Jonker and director Gerard van der Veer, he decides to trace the steps of these young pioneers to find out what happened to the residents. For this they travel, among other places, to Israel.

The first episode will premiere at the Northern Film Festival.

After the screening on Sunday, director Gerard van der Veer will have a conversation with author Auke Zeldenrust, who wrote a book about the kibbutz.