Winternachten and the Dutch Institute for War Documentation (NIOD) this year worked together in the final presentation of the research programme "From the East Indies to Indonesia" into the decolonization of Indonesia . The events in this turbulent time have also had repercussions in art. An image of the decolonization through the eyes of artists and scientists in a day and evening programme.

The NIOD-research into the East Indies and Indonesia of 1930 to 1960 has turned out to be a quest for the unknown. Quite unexpectedly, the researchers often
discovered new sources and new stories about the common history of the Netherlands and Indonesia. Only having just returned from their exploratory expedition they show their findings, a souvenir de voyage in word, image and sound.

In this day-long programme the various parts were alternated with old footage, compiled by Gerard Nijssen and Erik Willems and new film portraits of Dutch speaking Indonesians. This documentary project Indonesian Portraits - Part I Yogyakarta, by Martin van den Oever and Petra Timmer is a galery of filmed portraits of elderly Indonesians, who in the colonial era learned Dutch. They tell about their tie to this language, about their youth, the era of the struggle for independence and the disconnection with The Netherlands. Petra Timmer is a freelance researcher, editor and a maker of exhibitions for Dutch and foreign musea and cultural institutions. Martin van den Oever is documentary film maker and photographer. He works on architectoral photography, stereoscopic photography and film and several documentary projects.

The programme was hosted by Bert Tahitu and was Dutch spoken.