This documentary film is about Julia and her pub Café Bostella, located in Belgium only a stone’s throw from the Dutch border. In her 80s, Julia still runs the immensely popular pub on her own, just like she has done for more than 40 years. The success has not come easy, and now Julia faces a new threat: what will happen to the pub when working round the clock becomes too much for her? In the film, Julia shows her life that is for a great part defined by the pub, and the struggles belonging to it. Also regular guests from near and afar tell about the importance of the pub for their social life. Café Bostella is about persistence and loyalty in the face of quickly changing society and vanishing folk pub culture.


‘Brought into view with a lot of patience and a great empathy.’
– De Volkskrant

 

FILM SCREENINGS CAFÉ BOSTELLA
16-10-2016: Cinema Rex Essen
20-02-2017: docFeed documentary filmfestival
21-02-2017: TV Omroep Brabant and NPO National TV
23-01-2018: Filmtheater Hilversum

 
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS 
  • Café Bostella, (Book with DVD), Slowdocs Publishers 2016, ISBN 978-90-809375-7-4.
  • De laatste ronde, De Volkskrant (NL), A. Haijtema, 24-2-2017.
  • Portret van een echt volkscafé, BN/De Stem (NL), C. Hagenaars, 3-10-2015.
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    PRODUCTION

    Credits: Written, directed and produced by: Paul van der Stap & Elisa Veini; Camera & Sound: Paul van der Stap, Editor: Jaap de Goede, Paul, Elisa; Music: Gerard van Duinen (Bandoneon & arrangements), Mirek Walton (Guitar), Ingeborg Cneut (Violin)
    Financial support by: Province of Antwerp; CineCrowd with 95 donors; Omroep Brabant; The municipality of Essen
    Special thanks to: Julia van den Bergh and family, Angèle van der Stap, LECA, CineCrowd, and all regular guests of Café Bostella
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