Film, books, journalism and long-term collaborations — work that moves between documentary, fiction, literary nonfiction and reporting.
Filmmaker Freek de Goeje investigates the unlikely friendship between his grandfather Herman, an Amsterdam police officer, and former RAF member Christof Wackernagel, who shot him and his colleagues in 1977. The film explores reconciliation, loyalty and what it means to keep your heart open in a polarised world.
More about Friend and Foe
Amsterdam, 1977 · Herman (bottom right) with Christof Wackernagel
After her brother's death, the city-raised Wayana woman Peki carries his body through the Surinamese rainforest to the mythical spirit valley Kapunau. Co-directed with Jupta Itoewaki.
More about Kapunau
A book about the histories of the Wayana, Trio, Kalina, Lokono and Akurio, told through Indigenous perspectives. It brings historical and scientific sources into dialogue with oral history, local knowledge and the ecological transformations of the Surinamese rainforest.
The Tumuk Humak Expedition
Freek travels through the Surinamese rainforest in the footsteps of his ancestor, cartographer and linguist Claudius Henricus de Goeje. The journey becomes a critical encounter with colonial history and with the present-day reality of the Wayana, whose land, culture and way of life are threatened by gold mining, mercury pollution, deforestation and outside influence.
Into the heart of the Surinamese jungle in search of my colonial legacy
One hundred years ago, cartographer Claudius de Goeje travelled into the rainforest of colonial Suriname. Since then, everything has changed: the rainforest and its original inhabitants, the Wayana, have lost ground to gold mining. Did De Goeje's maps contribute to this destruction?
A mountain range bearing his name still rises above the region. As a child, Freek was proud of it — but how does he feel about it now? In the spring of 2022 he travels to the Wayana, whose territory is threatened by deforestation, pollution and violence. Do they hold his ancestor responsible? And can guilt be inherited?
As a process coach on Wayana mapping expeditions, I supported Mulokot’s media team in recording and editing stories tied to culturally significant places. The Wayana team documented its own territory and heritage for Terrastories, with support from the Johan Ferrier Fonds.
The foundation protects people and nature in vulnerable regions through close collaboration with Indigenous communities and trusted local partners. Its work in the Surinamese rainforest includes community-led biodiversity monitoring, bioacoustics, camera traps, eDNA, local training and long-term ecological restoration.
Photography
Black-and-white photographs from journeys through the Surinamese rainforest: the rivers, the camps and the people who make the journey possible. Photos: Freek de Goeje, 2024.
