Frans Bromet

Documentary about whistleblower Frits Veerman, who in the 1970s exposed the nuclear espionage at Urenco in which his Pakistani colleague Abdul Khan smuggled nuclear data out of the country. He was fired and fought for 40 years for rehabilitation. Frans Bromet examines the moral compass of the headstrong whistleblower in the politically shadowy and high-profile espionage scandal. Bromet wants to understand what underlies years of backroom politics, an intelligence agency that refuses to grant access to the file, and international interests that apparently prevail over the protection of an observant citizen by his government. The fact that the Dutch State takes no responsibility in this matter weighs heavily, literally and figuratively, on Veerman. The threat of a nuclear bomb remains real. Will a potential rehabilitation offer the satisfaction he has been waiting for forty years?

Documentary about the monument Joods Werkdorp.

Frans Bromet follows Anna-Titia (42). She has rheumatism, arthritis and a hereditary condition that makes her tired quickly and walk poorly.

Currently, purchasing cannabis is done through 'the back door'. What is sold legally is purchased illegally. The end of 2019 marked the start of a four-year experiment in which cannabis grown under state supervision is legally traded. This should lead to less crime and better quality weed with fewer harmful substances. After a strict selection procedure, ten growers are selected who can supply this government weed. Bromet follows seasoned grower John - who wanted to run his nursery as legally and transparently as possible, but still lost everything after a lawsuit - and the businessmen of plan C who want to grow cannabis for the first time. Bromet also interviews coffee shop owners, politicians involved and both supporters and opponents. A follow-up documentary was made in 2024.

The first cigarette. It begins so innocently, recklessly, and carefree. Like puppy love whose consequences you cannot yet foresee. For budding love grows into an addiction with all the consequences that entails, which unfortunately often also heralds the beginning of the end. Burning Desire is a kaleidoscopic and intimate narrative in which smokers speak about their great love, the cigarette. And what smoking brought them, but above all, what it has taken away. They are living on borrowed time. The love has proven irreversible.

Frans Bromet made a documentary about the 2002 Dutch parliamentary elections. As an undecided voter, Frans interviews the party leaders Paul Rosenmöller (GroenLinks), Pim Fortuyn (LPF), Thom de Graaf (D66), Jan Marijnissen (SP), Fred Teeven (LN), and Hans Dijkstal (VVD) about their election manifestos. He tries to find out who he should vote for.

The arrival of the taxi app Uber is causing anger among existing taxi drivers. If the police do not intervene, they take matters into their own hands. In Taxibotsing, Frans Bromet follows the battle waged by the established taxi world against Uber, a small online program that aims to eventually dominate the Dutch transport market. The battle is being fought on various levels. While the courts must determine whether the UberPop service is illegal (because drivers lack a license or do not pay taxes), the newcomer is an unpleasant reality for established taxi drivers. Livelihood theft, as well as resentment over colleagues going to work for the despised enemy, is turning the atmosphere on the streets grim.

In 'Homopesten', Frans Bromet paints a shocking picture of homophobia in the Netherlands. Helen is a lesbian and is bullied by her neighbors. They urinate in her garden, vandalize the walls, and throw feces at the windows.

For several decades, the hard core of Ajax supporters has used the derogatory term 'Jews'. This provokes reactions from the opposing side that are antisemitic or appear so, whether intended or not, and which are experienced by many Jews as deeply offensive. Should the use of this derogatory term in, for example, chants be banned or permitted? And where does the association of Ajax with Jews actually come from? This documentary provides a comprehensive and varied picture of the background to this issue. Jewish Ajax supporters, administrators, Amsterdammers, and Israeli Ajax fans, as well as non-Jewish Ajax supporters, administrators, and opponents, share their perspectives.

Documentary filmmaker Frans Bromet is known for his striking portraits of ordinary Dutch people. Now he is the subject himself, but has little desire to rake up matters from his own life.

You are Jewish when your mother is too. But when a Jewish mother is absent, it is still possible to become Jewish, namely through the phenomenon of 'coming out'. Frans Bromet portrays various individuals preparing to come out: people who are already Jewish and rabbis—Orthodox and Liberal—who make coming out possible, sometimes against their will.

In the late 1970s, filmmaker Frans Bromet worked on a film about Holocaust survivor and painter Sieg Maandag. The film was intended to answer the question of how one can continue living after a concentration camp. Sieg Maandag was the little boy in the famous photo in the American magazine LIFE, walking towards his freedom shortly after the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The film 'Life’s Picture' was never completed at the time due to a conflict between Bromet and the producer, who envisioned a heroic film about the Second World War, whereas Bromet wanted to keep it small and personal. Behind the search for answers to the question of why the film failed, a loving monument emerges to a survivor who, despite the misery he endured, managed to create a life in which optimism and inspiration predominated.

Frans Bromet delves into a mysterious feud that has divided his family for decades. Its origins lie in a conflict that arose on the Jewish side of the family after the Second World War.

Frans Bromet follows several cannabis growers who have been selected by lottery as the first suppliers of legal cannabis. Sequel to the 2021 documentary 'Legal Weed'. Ten growers have been selected by draw as the first legal cannabis growers for an experiment that would last four years. These are large companies where a lot of money is spent to enable large-scale production of cannabis. But the actual experiment still hasn't been fully rolled out. Only in a few cities is legal cannabis available in coffee shops. The biggest problems that growers and sellers face are supply stocks and the complexity of the track and trace system. Every movement of the weed must be registered. And that is almost impossible with a failing computer system. The future of the experiment remains highly unpredictable four years after its announcement.

Care in the Netherlands is deeply embedded in our social system. However, care has become unaffordable; something must change to curb costs. The Municipality of Rotterdam has therefore put care in its municipality out to tender with the aim of offering a new, affordable form of care. The deployment of volunteers is intended to bring down costs. Full of enthusiasm, the new care workers are embarking on their mission, leaving the old organizations that previously performed the work destitute.

In 2022, 92% of those affected encountered aggression or violence. Frans Bromet portrays six influences who encounter violence while carrying out their work. The violence with which the actual consequences are, leaves personal physical, especially mental, traces.

Frans Bromet goes in search of his family history and discovers that Hermanus Bromet was a well-known slave trader in Suriname. Should he feel guilty for what his ancestor did? How do you deal with a burdened family past?

In 1995, Frans Bromet created the successful series Opvoeden (Raising Children), in which he portrayed families facing significant parenting challenges. Twenty years later, Frans looks back on the difficult childhoods of the now-adult children. As ‘products’ of their parents, are the protagonists capable of taking a completely different approach, or does the parenting style they inherited prove to be deeply embedded in their DNA?

Eduard van Dijk's home has become uninhabitable. While clearing it out, emotional memories of his father, who died as a resistance fighter in the Natzweiler concentration camp, surface for Eduard. In Verstopt, Bromet follows an old friend of Eduard's: Vera. She helps to make Eduard's house habitable again. During the clearing process, it becomes clear how strongly Eduard is attached to all his belongings: with every book he picks up, he has a special memory. Will Vera succeed in making the house habitable again? And will Eduard manage to part with the items to which he feels so emotionally connected?

Dutch men commit suicide twice as often as women. Why is that? Filmmaker Frans Bromet investigates, together with journalist Nathan Vos, what is going on with men.

Frans Bromet, like 3.5 million Dutch people, is trying to lose excess weight. On his daughter's advice, he visits a gym in Purmerend. There he meets the likeable but tough fitness instructor Daniëlle de Boer, who is eager to help him. She tackles her clients in a militant manner. Bromet has his doubts.

This documentary, made by Frans Bromet and his son and daughter, explores music as an expression of homesickness and despair in the notorious refugee camp known as The Jungle in Calais.

The life and work of enigmatic Dutch/Californian conceptual artist Bas Jan Ader, who in 1975 disappeared under mysterious circumstances at sea in the smallest boat ever to cross the Atlantic. As seen through the eyes of fellow emigrant filmmaker René Daalder, the picture becomes a sweeping overview of contemporary art films as well as an epic saga of the transformative powers of the ocean.

Grandpa Koos (89) is a widower and still lives independently, but he is becoming lonely and his health is deteriorating. He does not want to spend his last years in a nursing home. Daughter-in-law Anita suggests that he could come and live with them in the garden. One day, a brand-new, ready-made care home is hoisted into the garden.

Beukbergen is a documentary that paints a comprehensive picture of the large-scale renovation of the Beukbergen trailer park, the largest trailer park in the Netherlands. This documentary, broadcast on NPO 2, offers a unique look behind the scenes of a project that is drastically changing the lives of many people.

Criticism of Israel is often labeled as antisemitism, particularly by a segment of the Jewish community. To what extent is this the case? Frans Bromet asks people with differing viewpoints on this complex subject.

Whistleblowers stick their necks out by exposing workplace misconduct. This is usually not appreciated. Filmmaker Frans Bromet speaks with whistleblowers about the far-reaching consequences that 'whistleblowing' has on their lives. The lives of the whistleblowers Bromet speaks to are irreparably damaged. Amidst stacks of binders and newspaper articles about what happened, the personal drama unfolds.

Making mistakes is human. But when doctors make mistakes, it often has far-reaching consequences. Frans Bromet speaks with doctors who have made serious medical errors. Talking about mistakes is by no means a matter of course within the medical profession. The trust that the patient places in the doctor proves to be a great asset. Betraying that trust is a devastating experience for the medical professionals. Yet they are willing to speak openly ‘because otherwise you deny the patient and their family the opportunity to understand, to process what has happened.’ But above all, because you can only learn from mistakes by making them open for discussion. Only then can hospitals actually take measures or implement improvements.

In 'Leve deorgaan', Frans Bromet delves into the world of organ donation and the ethical dilemmas involved. What does it actually mean to sign up as an organ donor?

An iconoclastic first film from the headstrong teenagers of the 1,2,3 Group, who took turns to write, direct, and star in a series of irreverent skits.

In the small village of Noord Rhoon, a group of concerned citizens has established a Citizens' Watch. Frans Bromet investigates. The emergence of citizens' watches is a clear trend in the Netherlands. Hardly a village or neighborhood remains free of the 'WhatsApp Neighborhood Watch' sign. The centralization of government over the past decades has led, particularly in smaller municipalities, to a subtle but visible deterioration of the living environment. The space created by increasingly distant local government is being filled by residents. They organize themselves on social media and, for example, conduct patrols through the neighborhood. But to what extent is such a citizens' watch desirable? How does the local government deal with this? And where does the line lie between civic duty and meddling?

To vent his own fears of divorce, Bromet follows a divorced 36-year-old woman, Hiske, a mother of two and working as an educational psychologist, through 'the laboratory of happiness'—the playgrounds of the 'me' era—with his camera. Through the life and experiences of this woman, he wants to discover what leads someone to—and what they hope for—from a divorce. The woman ends up in, among other places, a gay sauna, a group sex event, an institute for dynamic meditation, a maternity ward, and a sperm bank. Hiske professes that she is divorced in order to be able to search for her own possibilities without hindrance and regrets that her children no longer have a father. Frans calls her cruel because she took her husband's children away from him. Moreover, he is reinforced in his conviction that women do not wish to delve into men nearly enough.

How do you navigate as a young Islamic woman in a society whose morality seems to be at odds with how you are supposed to behave according to your own Muslim community? And how do you deal with the religious rules of your own community? Yeter Akin and Frans Bromet explore this in 'A Good Muslim Woman'.

You usually don't stop to think when you get into your car that the moment could be very close when you could cause a fatal accident. Yet, this happens to a few hundred people every year. In one fell swoop, five motorized road users talk about the consequences for their lives following this traumatic event. Together with Frans Bromet, they return to the scene of the accident.

Frans Bromet in search of the bad influences of the modern management culture.

Frans Bromet ends up in the Reade rehabilitation clinic in Amsterdam after a brain haemorrhage. He soon picks up his camera and films his roommates and healthcare staff. Frans discovers how important intensive guidance is. But the bond with his fellow sufferers is also greater than expected. When he hears of upcoming budget cuts, his concerns grow about the future of the institution and therefore also about the rehabilitation process of the clients.

A David versus Goliath documentary. One man versus the Health Care Organizations, fighting for better and affordable health care.

A love tattoo is done in no time, but what do you do with the tattoo when the love is over? Frans Bromet goes in search of the stories behind the tattoo during Valentine's week.

Documentary about one of the most talked-about Dutch renovations of the moment: the redesign of Soestdijk Palace. The ambitious renovation team, stakeholders, and opponents are followed for several years.