Folkert Verdoorn – Mula B – Blokke Gepikt

With Nos Pais (“Our Country” in Papiamentu), photographer Gilleam Trapenberg opens a “portal” on the Zuidertoren in the Netherlands during the darkest time of the year — a gateway that transports you from one island to another. You find yourself in a dreamy, jazzy day on Curaçao, where the sun marks both the beginning and the end of everything. It is Gilleam’s love letter to his homeland and an expression of deep longing.

^DIRECTOR

Gilleam Trapenberg

^PRODUCTION

Artillerie

^{EXECUTIVE PRODUCER}

Philippe Avendaño Vera

^{POST PRODUCTION}

INK

^INSTALLATION

Baken Schiermonnikoog

^ORGANISATION

Hi-Lo

^EDIT

Emiel Nuninga

‘Nos Pais’ was shown every evening from January 1st to February 28th on the Zuidertoren (Torenstreek 22, Schiermonnikoog). The projection took place during ‘nautical twilight’, well after sunset.

“If you couldn’t travel to your island during the winter, you became gloomy,” he said. For many Antilleans like him (who had come to the Netherlands for study and work), their island of origin gradually became an almost mythical memory — “a feeling you could just barely grasp.” But returning was complicated as well. Because once you were there, the harsh reality almost never lived up to those expectations.

It was Schiermonnikoog that inspired him to begin filming these images of longing. When he visited the Frisian island, he felt ‘at home’ in the Netherlands for the first time in ten years. It must have been a universal island feeling that he recognized.

Gilleam Trapenberg shot the footage in November 2022 on Curaçao using an analog 16mm camera, which enhanced the cinematic atmosphere. Was it reality or a dreamlike wish? Probably both.