Jeroen van Velzen

Tanzania Transit

Jeroen van Velzen

Josephs Quartzy

On a train crossing Tanzania, a rolling microcosm of East African society, we follow three main characters, reflecting on the strength to survive.

Wavumba

Jeroen van Velzen

When Jeroen van Velzen lived in Kenia as a child he was very susceptible to the stories told to him by an old fisherman. As Jeroen got older, his belief supernatural powers disappeared, but a part of him still longed for that open, unprejudiced way in which he looked at life and for the magic that filled everything with colour. That is why he wanted to return to the country where he grew up. On the coral island Wasini he met Masoud, and his steady helper Juma. Masoud is an old fisherman who still hopes of catching a large shark. How long Masoud also remains without a catch, every day he sincerely believes that tomorrow he will catch a shark. Jeroen would like to tell the story of Masoud in five days. Through this, stories of the past, told by three old people, are woven into the film. On their last day together Masoud shows him the sacred island Mpunguti, the place where his ancestors are buried. There Jeroen realises that the magic of this world rests in the simplicity of it.