We all know that political films usually feel fake. This time I decided to do it differently.
Instead of talking about a group of people, I wanted to talk with someone who lives the problem. For the housing file I met Ilya. He graduated a year ago and has a job, but still lives in his student room in Nijmegen.
I was on my own, so we had time to get to know each other first, without a camera. In documentary work you are dealing with real lives; that is why I always make these portraits in close collaboration with the person themselves. Ilya looked straight into the lens. His own words, his own story. In the edit we stayed in dialogue, so he could shape that story himself.
His story has a mirror: Margot. She lives in a house that is really too big for her now that her children have left, the rooms empty. She wants to make room for a young family, but she is stuck,a smaller apartment would cost her more per month than her current family home. So she stays where she is.
Two generations who, without knowing it, are wedged in place by the same policy. I filmed Margot as a one-person crew. One on one, a kitchen table, a camera, one meeting. Sometimes solo by design works best.
Ilya,a year out of university, still in his student room.
Margot,her children gone, the house too big, moving out too expensive.