A Night At The Movies

 Vlissingen, the next city down the railroad tracks from Middelburg, is renowned for its "Film By The Sea" festival each September. It's held at Cinecity, the great palace and monument to the silver screen just over the dike from the North Sea. And each year the HZ provides the opportunity for students to see a few relevant films for free, so I just had to get down there. 

For the first movie, "De Wilde Nordzee", I was generously given 10 euros in tokens to buy snacks and drinks. Would you believe it, I was one of two students that showed up that night- my generation just doesn't get out. (to be fair, it was a nature documentary in Dutch, so the demographic doesn't align with my international peers) I liked the picture a lot! While it was in that strange and convoluted tongue they know around here, I could follow it easily. For example, they would say "zeehonden hebben problemen met voeding" and show hungry seals eating seagulls. I've always wanted to see seals here in person, but maybe from a safe distance...

The next installment was "I Am The River, The River Is Me", a Dutch-produced documentary about a river in New Zeeland that has been granted legal personhood. I was in Vlissingen that afternoon anyways for a Green-Office meeting, so I killed time at the HZ campus there until it closed at 6:00. The weather was particularly foul-tempered that day, and while it had been beautiful on the ride into town it was changing fast into heavy rain. 

I knew that a group which was promoting the film was having some snacks and drinks at a coffee bar downtown, so I went to join them and wait out the rain. And maybe practice a little Dutch. The organization, "Rechten voor de Scheldes", aims to promote the same legal-personhood for natural bodies idea in Zeeland. Which is great, but as a student with a limited understanding of Dutch, I had always been on the periphery of the club. 

So it was a great surprise for me when I strolled into this establishment they'd taken over: a dozen of these folks were enjoying a three-course meal! I should've read the email thoroughly. Google Translate had said something like "join us for drinks and delicacies at Coffeebar Marcus this Thursday". But regardless, I was warmly welcomed to join them. I'd missed the soup and appetizer but the rest was great: vegetable, mushroom, and goat-cheese tarts, mini-quiches with sweet and sour sauce, and big glasses of fruit cocktail with whipped cream for dessert. 

I'm always something of a novelty at events like these; as I mentioned above not every student is willing to get out and meet local people at events like this. Strangest of all it was free; when the time came we all got up, said our thanks to the owner of the cozy place, and walked 10 minutes to the theater. I had another purpose this evening; once again as a young person. It was my job to stand on stage before the movie started and present a petition, from this Rechten v/d Scheldes group, to the Dutch Parliament to take up the issue in the coming session. 

It's a bad picture, but I'm second from the right in the shadows

If any river deserves legal rights, it's the Schelde: one of the most heavily-trafficked and polluted streams in Europe, and just a few hundred yards over the dike from where I stood on that stage. It's home to seabirds, seals, oyster beds, and salt grasses, but also to plastic bags, PFAS, oil slicks, and microplastics. It is a ecosystem hanging in the balance between nature and industry. Like the Schelde, I have to find a balance between my studies and causes like this one- I care about both but only have enough time for one. 

The petition and the filmmakers, Connie and Petr. Always cool to meet the people behind the camera!

It was a fun evening, but there's always a caveat: that heavy rain I'd mention above. At 9:00 I got out my rain pants and prepared for the worst. That was one cold and wet bike ride! It was a crummy way to end a nice day, but at least my laptop and notebooks didn't get wet. As the Dutchies like to say, in an optimistic tone, "You are not made of sugar in the rain."