If you pay attention, you see them everywhere: Drenthe flags. Three young art makers scour the entire province in search of these symbols of Drenthe pride, because they are turning the stories behind the flag into a documentary and a play.
Okki Poortvliet, Vera Vos and Hans van der Werf often tour Drenthe. Meanwhile, they scan facades and gardens, looking for sticks and masts with the Drenthe flag on them.
“If we see one, we put on the brakes,” says Vos. “We then ring the bell and ask if we can ask a few questions about the flag. We record that and process it in our research. It is a nice way to talk about the pride of Drenthe.”
Armed with a camera, microphone and a dialect, the young Drenthes go in search of stories about regional language, naobership and home. Why was a Drenthe flag ever hoisted? In recent months, the culture makers have already spoken to forty people about their love for Drenthe.
Filmmaker Okki Poortvliet and designer Vera Vos know each other from the art academy in Groningen. One comes from Odoorn, the other from De Wijk. As proud girls from Drenthe, they decided to make something about Drenthe together after their studies. Musician and theater maker Van der Werf from Borger completes the threesome from Drenthe.
The creators are on tjak in the municipalities of De Wolden, Westerveld, Emmen, Coevorden and Assen. There they will eventually perform all the bundled stories at random places in a theater play. The recorded stories are also shown in the documentary.
In the summer of 2023, the De Drentse Vlaggenhijsers project with the documentary and the theater performance must be shown.