Oma en Opa is a documentary made by NYU Abu Dhabi junior Charlotte de Bekker, which focuses on the relationship between de Bekker’s grandparents, Kees and Riki. The documentary, based on the interviews given by Kees and Riki, charts out some of the important events in their lives. It came about after de Bekker’s grandfather fell ill in 2014, and de Bekker felt the need to document her grandparents.

De Bekker learned how to use a camera in Professor Joanne Savio’s class Sound, Image and Story and borrowed film equipment from the Digital Studio at the library. The following semester, after visiting her grandparents in The Netherlands, and recording their story, de Bekker was enrolled in Professor Scandar Copti’s class Theory and Practice of Editing, which has now been renamed to Methods of Editing. On the first day of classes, Copti informed her that the class she had been enrolled into was an editing class designed for seniors working on their capstone projects. A freshman at the time, she had started to leave the room when he joked, “But if you have footage you can stay.” Fortunately for de Bekker, the class provided her with the opportunity to learn how to edit the footage she already had of her grandparents.

De Bekker followed the advice of film professors Alexis Gambis and Amos Katz and submitted the final product to various film festivals. It got selected for the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival held in Montana in the U.S. as well as the Sheffield Doc/Fest Videotheque held in Sheffield in the UK and the NYU Bobst Film Festival held in New York City.

De Bekker almost missed the opportunity to show her film at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival due to the tournament’s organizers’ inability to contact her. After three months of trying to establish contact with De Bekker, they eventually found an accurate email address, and made a last ditch effort to contact her. De Bekker was taken aback by the email. In one month, she had to prepare to travel to Montana to show her documentary at the biggest film festival in the U.S. American West. But show she did. With help from her professors and members of the administration including Associate Vice Chancellor Carol Brandt, Undergraduate Research and Administration Manager Farhana Goha and Associate Dean of Campus Life Renee Dugan, de Bekker was able to obtain funds from the university to travel to the event, while housing was provided by the organizers of the festival itself.

At nine minutes, the documentary provides a short but detailed glimpse into a relationship which is ultimately a testament to the endurance of love and and the undoubtedly good-hearted humor of de Bekker’s grandfather.