Director speaking: Leo de Boer about his alcohol use

Am I drinking (too) much?

'I want to talk to you about your drinking,' said the doctor, while I was at the emergency room for my bruised ribs and hadn't drunk a drop', says director Leo de Boer.

 Filmmaker Leo de Boer was called back by his doctor last year about his years of alcohol use. Initially enraged at the meddling, he surrendered to the investigation and spoke to countless doctors, aid workers and drinkers. He discovered a wealth of information about the attraction and repulsion of alcohol and decided to make a film about it. The documentary ROES is about one of our sacred houses; about our drinking habits. In the film, Leo explores the painful dilemmas surrounding the alcohol taboo through a personal, candid quest and with a dose of humor.

MIXED FEELINGS

'I like drinking, the buzz in my head, the taste. Of a good evening that becomes more and more enjoyable. And that is why this will not be a film with a raised finger and an unambiguous message. I am a drinker like many Dutch people', says Leo de Boer. 'But when I was reprimanded, I had to admit that for years a hidden sense of unease had gnawed at me, which I often soothed with a good argument, only to wash it down with a glass of calvados. But I got mixed feelings about booze because of everything I know now.

I want to make this film because it's a story I'm in the middle of. It raises all kinds of conflicting questions and emotions in me and I notice that it also triggers a lot of discussion in others. From painful stories about drinking partners to heated discussions about meddling and patronizing.'

 DO YOU DARE?

We are looking for heavy drinkers (minimum 3 to 4 glasses a day) who, together with Leo de Boer, want to stop for a month at the beginning of 2019 as an experiment, who want to have an open conversation about this and who want to examine their own drinking use but also our national drinking culture. 'I like to support my own story with the stories of others. Maybe someone who also has a little voice somewhere in the back of his head that says that he or she is actually drinking too much or is told that at home.' In the film Leo explores the painful dilemmas surrounding the alcohol taboo through a personal, honest quest and with a dose of humor.

Do you want to start a conversation with him and other daily drinkers, in combination with your IkPas alcohol break? Send an email to for more information info@defamilie.netor call Yaël van der Schelde on 06-48747073.