A background reportage preceding the local elections in Antwerp, Belgium.
After the second biggest party of Belgium, the extreme right party Vlaams Belang (VB), does not get any political influence from other parties, executing the famous ‘cordon sanitaire’, senior reporter Alexander Steinbach from the Austrian public TV broadcaster ORF travels to Antwerp preceding the local elections in Belgium, to produce a background reportage for the program Weltjournal. He wants to see how Vlaams Belang is doing and to find out if the ‘cordon sanitaire’ will hold.
During the campaign the Vlaams Belang political leader Filip Dewinter visits cafes in Antwerp to meet his followers and to speak to the press. His main message: Belgium is undemocratic, since they keep the VB out of the political system.
A member from Blokwatch, a news site, virtual archive and documentation centre on the far right in Flanders, investigative journalist and Vlaams Belang specialist Tom Cochez and Minister of State Jos Geysels who was involved in the introduction of the ‘cordon sanitaire’ give their views on the dangers of the extreme right party.
The actual social and political atmosphere in the picturesque Flemish town is measured by portraying and interviewing a Jewish diamond trader and a local leader of the Arabic European League, a migrant pressure group that gives their supporters advice on how to vote.
For this reportage Featurez gave advice, did the research, set-up and planning of the filming, booked a camera crew, accompanied the filming and di street interviews and translations.