"Matroesjka's" (2005)TV series

Directors:

Guy Goossens
Mark Punt

Writer:

Mark Punt (writer)

Release Date:

5 January 2005 (Belgium)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Just dancing, they said.

Plot Keywords:

Human Trafficing | Brothel | Eastern Europe | Human Exploitation | Prostitution

Cast

Peter Van den Begin	...	Raymond Van Mechelen
Mark Van Eeghem	...	Marc Camps
Wim Opbrouck	...	Mike Simons
Luk Wijns	...	Eddy Stoefs
Axel Daeseleire	...	Jan Verplancke
Frank Aendenboom	...	John Dockx
Tom Van Dyck	...	Vincent Dockx
Stany Crets	...	Clem De Donder
Hilde Heijnen	...	Laura Keyser
Lucas van den Eijnde	...	Nico Maes
Veerle De Jonghe	...	Esther Van De Walle
Manou Kersting	...	Danny Bols
Ailika Kremer	...	Eva
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bert André	...	Henri Boon
Zemyna Asmontaite	...	Daria
Warre Borgmans	...	Dokter Van Looy
Sophie Decleir	...	Lut Jones
Tom De Hoog
Karel Deruwe	...	Agent
Damiaan De Schrijver	...	Ludo Gulinck
Vic de Wachter	...	Editor-in-chief
Ludo Hellinx	...	Nelson Nilis
Ludo Hoogmartens	...	Pedro
Indre Jaraite	...	Inesa
Dainius Kazlauskas	...	Arnas Jarasunas
Yevgeniya Khirivskaya	...	Kalinka
Rasa Kirkilionyte	...	Mother of Daria
Liubomiras Lauciavicius	...	Borzov
Mila Lipner	...	Deborah
Chris Lomme	...	Monique Wilson
Andy Lucas	...	Stavros
Marilou Mermans	...	Vivianne De Donder
Vidas Petkevicius	...	Father Daria
Vilma Raubaite	...	Kasandra
Peter Thyssen	...	Rudi Sierens
Lyubov Tolkalina	...	Olga (as Liuba Tolkalina)
Saar Vandendriessche	...	Dancer Sita
Greta Van Langhendonck	...	Buurvrouw
Jan Van Looveren	...	Peter Jones
Svetlana Vladimirovna	...	Luna
Ronny Waterschoot	...	Chief Van Hout
Cela Yildiz	...	Greek trader (2005)
Denise Zimmerman	...	Buurvrouw van Mike

Directed by
Guy Goossens
Mark Punt

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Mark Punt		writer

Produced by
Mark Punt	....	producer
Robertas Urbonas	....	co-producer

Original Music by
David Julyan

Cinematography by
Michel van Laer

Film Editing by
Alain Dessauvage
Philippe Ravoet
Ludo Troch

Casting by
Arturas Zukauskas

Art Direction by
Kurt Loyens

Production Management
Sofie Engelen	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Andrius Brazas	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Rimantas Gailius	....	props
Irmantas Kavaliauskas	....	props
Elke Meulemans	....	set dresser
Kurt Rigolle	....	props

Sound Department
Thierry De Vries	....	sound re-recording mixer (2005)
Pedro Van der Eecken	....	sound
Geert Vlegels	....	boom operator

Camera and Electrical Department
Florence Preud'homme	....	clapper loader
Rokas Rudzionis	....	key grip
Tom Van den Abbeele	....	gaffer

Casting Department
Vladimir Zhelezniakov	....	casting associate (2005)

Music Department
Mark Sayfritz	....	composer: additional music

Transportation Department
Inga Zavoronok	....	transportation coordinator

Production Companies

• Independent Productions
• Lietuvos Kinostudija
• Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds

Distributors

• Cuatro (2005) (Spain) (TV)
• FX Brasil (2005) (Brazil) (TV)
• FX Italia (2006) (Italy) (TV)
• High Point Film and Television (2004) (worldwide) (all media)
• Kanal 2 (2005) (Estonia) (TV)
• M6 Métropole Télévision (2005) (France) (TV)
• Ren-TV (2005) (Russia) (TV)
• SBS Television (2005) (Australia) (TV)
• Television Markíza (2005) (Slovakia) (TV)
• Universal Pictures Benelux (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• VMM (Belgium) (TV)
• Viasat3 (2005) (Hungary) (TV)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (2005) (Finland) (TV)

Also Known As:

Matrioshki (International: English title)

Runtime:

Belgium:50 min (10 episodes)

Country:

Belgium

Language:

Dutch | Flemish | English | Lithuanian | Russian

Colour:

Colour

Certification:

Belgium:KT | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-15

Filming Locations:

Belgium

Company:

Independent Productions

Trivia:

Amnesty International will be using scenes from "Matroesjka's" in a documentary to be screened at schools in eastern Europe to warn girls for these malpractices.

One of Belgium's best series ever.

Quality always shows, no matter where it comes from. Belgium may not be very well known for its movies or series, but from time to time some director really knows what to do to make our little country proud. I've seen several Belgian movies and most of the time I wasn't very pleased with them ("De Zaak Alzheimer" and "Hombres Complicados" are exceptions to that rule). Almost all lacked professionalism and tried too hard to look like Hollywood productions. That's not the case with "Matroesjka's". This series never even tries to look like it comes from Hollywood. It wants to look Belgian and it succeeds perfectly.

In this series we follow some young Russian and Lituanian girls who are recruited by some Belgians with the promise that they will earn a lot of money as dancers (not as strippers) and that they will be able to build a better future for themselves and their families. But from the beginning on the problems start: their contracts are in Greek, they are first sent to a nightclub on Cyprus and they soon realize that their situation won't get any better. But what they don't even know yet is that they will not only have to strip. They will also have to work as prostitutes and they will never be free for as long as they work in the nightclubs...

This series deals with something that we aren't very proud of, but that really is a part of our country: white slavery (the buying of women in Eastern Europe and using them in the sex industry). It's a well-known fact that Belgium, and Antwerp in particular, is a major player in this scene. But this series also shows that it isn't always the big crime syndicates who deal in women. Often the people who do such things are people from the middle classes. Another thing that is made very clear by this series is the corruption in the police department. Too often there has been proof of police officers who worked together with those networks instead of trying to catch them...

It's very clear that the writers of this program were able to do everything they wanted. Normally they try too hard to make it all very spectacular and original, because that's exactly what the TV stations demand from them. In the average soap you'll see one plane crash after the next horrible murder, making it all very laughable, but far from realistic. Not this time. Of course there is some violence in this series, but it all contributes to the realism of the story, making "Matroesjka's" a series that we can all be very proud of. No wonder that it has been sold to so many other countries already. I hope it will be a huge success abroad as well. The makers sure deserve it. In the mean time we already got to know that, thanks to the huge success of the series, there will be a second part. Now let's hope that they keep up the good work and don't mess it up. Anyway, I give the first part an 8/10. It sure deserves it.