VPRO

By living in The Netherland, you take part in a socioeconomic system. How we live, earn our money or deal with mental health care; the options are limited and largely determined by others. Whether we like it or not. But there are people that do things differently, people that deliberately choose to live outside forementioned preconditioned systems. Who are these people, that challenge and oppose the norm?

Breathtaking natural beauty, tolerant, safe and prosperous. That is the picture we have of Canada in the Netherlands. But is it really that paradisical, or does Trudeau's country know how to put on a mask of civility? Writer Emy Koopman travels in Paradise Canada from Vancouver to Montreal and looks at the problems brewing beneath the surface. The series delves into all the urgent themes of our time and examines the state of Canada with racism and gender equality, migration, climate change and the welfare state. Emy Koopman speaks to famous Canadian intellectuals such as Charles Taylor, Margaret Atwood and Jordan Peterson.

In the eight-part series Allah in Europe, Jan Leyers is looking for the face of Islam in Europe. Is there such a thing as a European, enlightened version of Islam growing and is that what Muslims themselves want?

Jelle Brandt Corstius is traveling through India. Whereas he previously attempted to explain Russia as an expert in the series From Moscow to Murmansk and From Moscow to Magadan, he is now trying to understand India as a stranger. The country has more poor people, 426 million, than the 26 poorest African countries combined. But there is also enormous wealth. Indian conglomerates are buying up Western companies. The biggest challenge for India is not to become more prosperous, but to distribute that prosperity more evenly. Brandt Corstius travels between two extremes across the country. From Bihar, located in the poor east, to Bangalore, the technological giant in the rich southwest.

In this third series, Ruben Terlou takes us through China again. This time he explores how Chinese people see their own, their children’s, and their country’s futures. He experiences how rapidly China is developing under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, and how this is affecting the lives of ordinary individuals. Once again Ruben finds himself in exceptional situations, meets extraordinary people, and sees some dreams coming true and others being shattered.

The revelation in 2017 that the late Dr. Karbaat clandestinely used his own semen to inseminate over 65 of his patients shocked the world. This documentary series is a vivid portrayal of how that happened and how it haunts today those affected: the emotional trauma of coming to terms with a changed, uncertain genetic origin.

Each episode focuses on one city, where three artists or bands map their local scene. They show us around the places where they write their music, the locations that have been formative and inspire them. They provide an intimate glimpse into the kitchen, and the artists perform at the local pop stage.

From 1860 to 1978, twenty thousand girls with difficult childhoods were cared for in five homes in the Netherlands, the Monasteries of the Good Shepherd. Britta Hosman travels with Lies Vissers, Joke de Smit and R. Riet to the city and country to reconstruct what they and everyone else experienced during their youth.