Ton van Zantvoort

Korte synopsis:
In an intriguing way a BLOOMING BUSINESS shows the world of Jane, Oscar and Kennedy, who all depend some how on the huge flower farms in Naivasha, Kenya. A poetic, cinematic and poignant documentary in which director Ton van Zantvoort goes deep into the lives of the main characters. Is the smell of the imported rose so sweet indeed?

Inhoud:
Film description 519 words

a BLOOMING BUSINESS is a poetic documentary by Ton van Zantvoort about people in Kenya who are imprisoned by the global flower growing industry. Flowers love people, is a well known Dutch saying, that the flower industry tries to propagate. But whether flowers actually do love people remains the question. A large percentage of flower production in third world countries, where the pay checks are low and the environment constraints are flexible, is auctioned in The Netherlands.

In an assertive way, a BLOOMING BUSINESS shows the world of Jane, Kennedy and Oscar. Jane is a single mother who works at one of the many flower farms in Naivasha, Kenya. She works day and night for her survival and to be able to feed her children. Jane finds herself constantly exhausted and compares her life to that of a prisoner. Her supervisor forces her to have sex with him. If Jane would reject him, she would be fired and banned from working at other flower farms. She has no choice. If that would happen, who would look after her children? Jane’s family lives far away. She has been all by herself since she immigrated to Naivasha. There were rumors that one can make a considerable amount of money working in the flower industry. However, once you arrive in Naivasha, the reality turns out to be far from positive. Jane is imprisoned in her situation; she does not even have the money to go and visit her family. To her, the rose means hard work, thorns in her hands and exposure to a lot of dangerous chemicals. However, despite her hard and difficult life, beating her down, Jane remains fighting for her children’s dreams and future.

The flower is a huge source of income. But for whom? The flower industry in Naivasha – and anywhere else in the world – demands its price both socially and ecologically. Each rose bush needs 1,5 liter of water per day. Fisherman Kennedy suffers from this and watches his catch diminish daily: “the surface of Naivasha’s lake decreases a lot each year because of this water consumption and the water is polluted by the use of chemicals and pesticides of the surrounding companies.” Another victim is Oscar. He was also fired by a flower company and ever since, in order to make a little money has been transporting the polluted water from the lake in jerry cans to the community by mule. He knows the water is polluted, but Oscar, just like the community who drinks the water, has no other choice.

Do flowers also love these people? Everything is being done in order to keep up appearances of the flower industry, as, together with tourism, flower export is Kenya’s largest source of income. The dilemmas of the industry grow painfully clear. There is only one conclusion possible: the smell of the imported rose is not sweet, but bitter. Pure observation goes unnoticed, hand in hand, with straightforward comments from the main characters throughout this film. The camera is present and absent at the same time. With great humanity van Zantvoort shows us another world in which the life of each human being is valuable.

Overige info:
World Premiere
Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, Greece, 13 March 2009
Dutch Premiere
International Film Festival Breda, The Netherlands, 27 March 2009

Plaza Futura, The Netherlands, May 2009
Film Café Grave, The Netherlands, May 2009
Verkade Fabriek, The Netherlands, May 2009
Green Film Festival in Seoul, Korea, May 2009
Electron, The Netherlands, May 2009
NIFF, Newport International Film Festival, USA, June 2009
EIFF, Edinburgh International Film Festival, UK, June 2009
Cinema City 09, Serbia, June 2009
TAC, The Netherlands, June 2009
Filmfoyer, The Netherlands, June 2009
Rodos International Films+ Visual Arts Festival, Greece, June 2009
New Zealand International Film Festival, New Zealand, July 2009
Groene Engel, The Netherlands, July 2009
VIFF, Vancouver International Film Festival
National Cinemateque, Denmark, September 2009
NFF, Dutch Film Festival, The Netherlands, September 2009
VIFF, Vancouver International Film Festival, Canada, October 2009
MEDI MED Docs come true, Spain, October 2009
Planet in Focus, Environmental Film Festival, Canada 2009
DOK Leipzig, Germany, October 2009
AFF, Astra Film Festival, Romania, 2009
ânûû-rû âboro, Peoples’ film festival, New Caledonia, November 2009
Med Film Festival, Italy, November 2009
Cronograf Documentary Film Festival, Moldova, June 2010