De Verdwenen Buurt (2025)

When Jacques de Leeuwe receives the book The Vanished Neighborhood, he is deeply moved by the lost Jewish quarter of The Hague he once knew as a boy. Determined to keep its memory alive, he embarks on a seven-year mission to meticulously reconstruct the neighborhood as a large-scale model. Through archival research, drawings, and stories from former residents, the lost streets come back to life. Interwoven with the story of rabbi Izak van Gelder and his daughter Henriette, the film offers a poignant portrait of a vibrant community erased by war and one man's dedication to remembrance. But this is also a deeply personal exploration of inter generational trauma, healing, and the universal struggle to break cycles of inherited pain. By addressing this trauma through film, Akker believes in its healing effect and its power to increase mutual understanding, proving that this seemingly specific story about The Hague's vanished Jewish neighborhood is ultimately universal.