Maalstroom

2026 | 100 min

Refugee crisis. Migrant crisis. Whose crisis is it? Of people in search of a better life and safe existence or of those who feel their safe and comfortable existence is threatened? MAALSTROOM shows the clash, the connection and the abrupt ending of a fledgling friendship between people from completely different backgrounds who are condemned to each other.

When, by a twist of fate, 11 African refugees moving through Europe end up on Dutch river barge Maalstroom, conservative skipper Jan is confronted with non-Europeans for the first time in his life. From one moment to the next, there are 11 people from East-Africa setting up camp in his cargo of rare imported desert sand for a beach bar in Rotterdam. Jan wants them to leave, the load of sand is supposed to be the salvation for the ailing skipper. But these people have nowhere to go. During their shared journey, his outlook on life changes forever.

Maalstroom takes on two perspectives. On the one hand, we see that of Jan, the conservative, Dutch skipper. In his perspective we see how we (in Europe) deal with change and adversity. We see how we perceive others. What remains of that hospitable, or inhospitable, attitude when we are face to face with those in need of help? On the other hand, we experience the refugees’ journey from their perspective and experience the gaze of an inhospitable Europe and a Dutch river barge captain. With an accessible, lighthearted narrative style and appealing imagery, filmmaker Teddy Cherim takes his audience on an adventure aboard the Maalstroom that gradually turns into a gripping drama.