VPRO

China is playing an increasingly important role worldwide. Under President Xi Jinping, substantial investments are being made in communication and cooperation and industrious Chinese people are settling abroad in large numbers. Documentary maker and China expert Ruben Terlou visits them in the new VPRO travel series ‘The World of the Chinese’. Who are they, what do they want to achieve and what impact does their presence have on the local population?

Ruben Terlou, once trained as a doctor, meets courageous go-getters in healthcare in seven countries who try to cure not only the ailment, but also the sickening conditions such as poverty, inequality, pollution and insecurity.

Sander Schimmelpenninck investigates the far-reaching influence of social media on our society and politics. To this end, he talks to journalists, moderators, philosophers, lawyers and troll hunters. How does social media use undermine our democracy and why is no one doing anything?

The ancient Silk Road, the trade center of the world, once ran through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan. Ruben Terlou and Jelle Brandt Corstius explore the area in which the world has renewed interest due to its strategic location and enormous energy reserves.

De kijk van Koolhoven is a six part series of movie lectures given by director and cinephile Martin Koolhoven. On the basis of scenes from his favorite movies, Koolhoven shares his passion for cinema with the viewers. From Basic Instinct to Jaws and from Dr. Strangelove to Drive, every movie enthousiast can get his fill.

Fay (14) and Boris (10) discover that their parents secretly replaced themselves by robots. Claudia and Joost each have demanding jobs and even though they try very hard, they are not able to combine their jobs with spending quality time with their children. Boris, Fay, Claudia and Joost slowly realize they need each other as a family and when the robots become uncontrollable, they can only clear up the mess by working together.

How is it possible that in the Netherlands the gap between rich and poor still exists and is even widening? In the six-part VPRO series Sander en de gorge, Sander Schimmelpenninck has a mission: to expose wealth and opportunity inequality in our country.

Sunday with Lubach is a satirical television program of the VPRO network that is presented by Arjen Lubach.

By living in The Netherland, you take part in a socioeconomic system. How we live, earn our money or deal with mental health care; the options are limited and largely determined by others. Whether we like it or not. But there are people that do things differently, people that deliberately choose to live outside forementioned preconditioned systems. Who are these people, that challenge and oppose the norm?