Tegendraads
Period drama by Ben Sombogaart (Twin Sisters, Bride Flight) about the forbidden love between a textile worker from Twente and an Italian immigrant in 1961.
Sleepy Oldenzaal is rocked by the arrival of a large group of Italian workers brought to the Netherlands to work in the fast-growing textile industry. The Italians work hard, do not complain and steal the hearts of the local girls. Meanwhile, the young labourer Johanna is looking for freedom and tries to move up the ladder against social conventions. The growing tensions between the people of Twente and the newcomers eventually lead to the historic ‘spaghetti riots’. Together with her lover Francesco, Johanna finds herself in the eye of the storm.
Dutch director Ben Sombogaart has already directed several historical films, such as TWIN SISTERS, CRUSADE IN JEANSKRUISTOCHT IN SPIJKERBROEK and THE STORM. In his new film TEGENDRAADS, he tells the sometimes bitter story of a young woman who has to fight against her environment to become who she wants to be. Besides emancipation, Sombogaart deals with another theme that has lost none of its topicality and relevance: how the Dutch people treat immigrants.