Belle van Zuylen - Madame de Charrière

In the nineties, it was decided to convert Tiengemeten, an island in the Haringvliet estuary, from an agricultural area to a nature reserve with three zones, which were labelled 'wealth', 'melancholy' and 'wilderness'. After part one, focussing on the period 1996 to 2001, in part two of her documentary Sinke talks to the Vos brothers, the last two farmers on the island with whom the authorities are still negotiating about the conditions of their departure, and to representatives of the Society for the Preservation of Nature, the Department of Waterways and Public Works, the local authorities and Brussels, who mainly discuss the finances. Between times, she films the island.

Wistful Wilderness

Show me your attic and I’ll tell you who you are! In this very personal and universal cinematographic essay, Digna Sinke travels to Zeeland and Bali, through faded photos to minimalist digital nomads. What to do with all those spare buttons? If you don’t keep anything, who will know what grandma’s tablecloth felt like?

New Tiengemeten is the account of the transformation of the little island of Tiengemeten, the last "real" island of South-West Holland. Fertile agricultural land is set aside to allow nature to run its course, according to a carefully drawn up plan. The film follows the development of the island after the departure of the last farmer. The asphalt roads are dug up to creeks, the dike is cut, the farms are given a new destination. Will man succeed in making nature? Nature that is also fit for recreation?

Documentary about the Hedwigepolder in Holland.

Six people are about to undertake a journey by foot from the very north of the Netherlands to the very south, in search of the mountains. Only two of them reach the destination.

Shy, thirteen year old Xenia doesn't feel comfortable in the overly-regulated society she lives in. In search of a place for herself she discovers an island on which time doesn't seem to exist. This is where she finds the key to her future.

Unrelenting pessimism dominates this slow-paced, dark film, the debut feature from director Digna Sinke dedicated to an archetypal born loser named Marian (Josee Ruiter). Marian is a journalist who has been working in Latin America and who arrives home just after her father dies to find out that the man she had married for purely political reasons might be deported because the authorities found out he was not living with her. Meanwhile, Marian is upset that her mother and sister are keeping her mentally handicapped brother in an institution, and she goes there to get him released into her custody -- a mistake it turns out. He is actually worse off with her, and vice-versa. On top of everything, Marian cannot break away from the depression she feels over a tragic incident that happened while she was in Latin America -- and anything she does is colored by that moment from the past. These burdens become almost too much to bear, both for Marian and the viewers.

During the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2002, Leo Hannewijk (festival director Film by the Sea) approached filmmaker and producer Digna Sinke with the idea of asking several film makers to make short films based on poems about the province of Zeeland. It would offer an opportunity to investigate the limits of the medium film and, just like poetry, not to focus on the story but to tackle universal and grander themes through mood and form. In the end, eight short films were realized, by eight different filmmakers. The films are connected by intermezzi, aerial shots of the Zeeland coasts. Poems of the Sea is a stirring and surprising portrayal of Zeeland. Filled with desires and passion.

How do you deal with the fact that someone close to heart has suddenly disappeared without a trace? Can you go on living whilst waiting for his return?