Camping

“Camping” was filmed during the summer at Camping Molenzijdse Heide, in the Kempen heathland. This campsite has some 900 stationary caravans and chalets. Most of the campers have been going there for decades, some already for generations. The majority spend the whole summer there, and a minority live there year-round. Everybody knows everybody else. This gives rise to a micro-cosmos, a web of human relations and conflicts. The lives of a limited number of people are followed. They have been chosen on the basis of their personality and their potential for development of story lines. The sequences are shot in the documentary cinema verité style: the camera simply registers; direction and interview are avoided. The camera crew spends months at the location and integrates itself into everyday life there via participating observation. The people and their stories are therefore real. The narrative structure is inspired by fictional soap.