Downistie

Finally, something very original has happened on the Dutch telly. The Dutch soap Downistie has been broadcasted within the talk show De Wereld Draait Door since the 11th March. It has caused some discussion and polemic among the Dutch audience and press. Each chapter lasts 3 minutes and all the 5 actors have the Down Syndrome. Lots of cheating, unplanned pregancies, secret affairs, jealousy, lies, a femme fatale, intense hapiness and tragic diseases: all the high and low moments of life are presented in Downistie.

Sara van Ketel (above) plays housewife and mom "Vicky".  Van Ketel: "I didn't have to do audictions, I simply can act. I just want to be famous. I have always wanted it. I am already a bit. In the supermarket or in the metro people ask me: "Were you on TV ?" And then I answer: "It is possible". (...)  I think it is great that I act only with other people with a handicap. They are all my friends.

Maybe other people think this is a crazy project, but I think it is quite normal. And we cannot do anything to change the fact that we have the Down Syndrome, right ? I suffer with bulliers, mostly kids, who scream on the street: "mongol !" But I do not scream anything back. (...)

I do not kiss during the footages. I think it is not appropriate. I only kiss my real boyfriend in my real life. I have already watched to some scenes on the telly. I am enourmously proud of myself."   (source: esta magazine, # 6, March 2011, page 80) 

Downistie is everyweek on the talk show De Wereld Draait Door, 19:30, VARA Nederland 3. A total of 12 episodes, each of 3 minutes, is planned.  Below, the first episode from 11th March.

A soap... and only with actors with the Down Syndrome. I see Downistie as good entertainment - a soap like any other soap. And I would like to hear what you think of that initiative. I have done some research on the net and I haven't found anything similar to this project in another part of the world. Do you think it helps to reduce the stygma ?  Thumbs up... or Down ? Would a smilar project be possible in your own land ?

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