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Private Notes
This city, where formerly General Motors, Ford and Chrysler employed almost every citizen, was declared bankrupt in 2013. The car industry moved away to low-wage countries and over a million citizens left the city: 'Motown' became 'Ghost town'. In this environment of decay, a few diehards stubbornly keep running their business; one of them is barber Roberto (73), who used to be the hairstylist of many Motown artists. In his barber shop the old spirit is still alive: soul music blares from his jukebox and his customers, mostly above 70 years old, swear by the glam Chuck Berry hairdo. Barber Shop Detroit tells the story of nostalgia and pride against a background of economic recession. How the past can help endure the present. Or like a customer explains: 'If you take care of your hair, your hair will take care of you'.
Brazil has well prepared itself for the Olympic Games of 2016, to embrace sports enthusiasts from all over the world. However, the people from the favela's have, as always, been forgotten. Barber Shop Brazil talks about current state of the favela's and of the common man's fear, not of drug dealers, but of the police. This is not a film about corruption but about the life of ordinary teenagers in Brazil's capital. The story plays in the outer skirts of Rio, in the Favela Jacarezinho. Barber Pedro rents the chairs in his barber shop to teenagers, but only if they stop getting involved in drugs and crime. Not only eager to learn a profession, the teenagers of Salao Faria have even developed a very specific haircut: the Jaca Haircut.
India has only recently openly raised its voice to one of the most violent aspects of society: the incredibly high number of rapes and the impunity of the attackers. Women seem to be helpless and have no chance to ask for justice. Some women, however, have found the strength to resist society's stigma. Soniya has a beauty parlour and barber shop in New Delhi. She survived an acid attack, several years earlier. Being mutilated for the rest of her life, she makes it her mission to give beauty and self-respect to the women around her. Barber Shop India demonstrates that beauty lies in the mind.
Set in the Western Sahara, Barber Shop Algeria tells the story of the last colony in Africa: since Morocco illegally annexed the territory of the Sahrawi, this nomad population has been living in refugee camps along a long Moroccan wall built in the middle of the desert. For generations, the Sahrawi have been fighting to reclaim their land. In Smara refugee camp, barber Mohammed treats customers of different generations: old men that initiated the resistance, young men who prefer modern life over a seemingly useless battle, and children, who need to learn the real reasons for the theft of the Sahrawi's land.
How possibly could the UK vote for Brexit? In Clacton-on-Sea, a small seaside town, barber Susan and her clients reflect on current European issues like migration, religious extremism, economic decline and the position of the UK vis-à-vis the EU. As her barber shop serves as the local get-together place in the neighbourhood, we get to peek in the opinions of ordinary people and their hopes on post Brexit society. Susan is one of the very rare female barbers, who learned the profession since she was 14. With clients of both sides (the REMAIN voters and the LEAVE voters), we follow Susan balancing between being warm and social on the one hand and being closed and protectionist on the other - an issue that all European populations struggle with since the migration crisis and muslim extremism.
South Africa has known a turbulent history of occupation, discrimination and violence against the black population. With the ANC in power and today in the post-Mandela era, the roles are reversed. We see a true 'Black Economic Empowerment', in which the black people are favoured in terms of housing and employment. The white middle class is slowly slipping away into poverty, resulting in violence, excessive drugs and alcohol abuse. Barber Shop South Africa brings the story of this impoverished white middle class who decides to insulate itself from the outside world and settles in strict religious communities on the countryside. Adri (36) is the white female hairdresser of Filadelfia Ark, a community West of Pretoria. She cuts hair on a chair outside her bungalow. Her customers appreciate her gentle approach and visit her for an enjoyable talk.
