The Industry
Interactive Documentary, VR, Podcast Series




The Industry (2017 - 2018)
Director: Mirka Duijn
The Industry is a transmedia project existing out of a VR Documentary, an Interactive Documentary, a Podcast Series and a TV Documentary.
The Netherlands is the number one drugs country in Europe. Weed is in the DNA of The Netherlands, coke enters the country through the harbours, and XTC is as Dutch as chocolate sprinkles is.
The question then is: How is it possible that in a regulated country like the Netherlands drug can be produced and traded on such a large scale? The Industry explores this phenomenon.
For The Industry weed growers, coke kingpins and drugs traffickers are being interviewed. Not as criminals but as entrepreneurs in a thriving industry where we never see or hear anything about. What made them choose to work in this industry? What makes them tick? How did their career develop? And how does a workday of a drug trafficker, coke lord or weet cutter look like?
The Netherlands is the number one drugs country in Europe. Weed is in the DNA of The Netherlands, coke enters the country through the harbours, and XTC is as Dutch as chocolate sprinkles is.
The question then is: How is it possible that in a regulated country like the Netherlands drug can be produced and traded on such a large scale? The Industry explores this phenomenon.
For The Industry weed growers, coke kingpins and drugs traffickers are being interviewed. Not as criminals but as entrepreneurs in a thriving industry where we never see or hear anything about. What made them choose to work in this industry? What makes them tick? How did their career develop? And how does a workday of a drug trafficker, coke lord or weet cutter look like?
Won a Peabody Award in 2018.
Won a FIVARS Award in 2019.
Special Mention at Prix Italia 2018. Nominated at IDFA 2018,
Nominated for Prix Europa 2018
Nominated for Prix Bohemia 2019
Produced by:
Corine Meijers,
Submarine Channel
VPRO
Read mere about the project here: www.vpro.nl/programmas/de-industrie.html
The broadcasts are also available as a podcast series via vpro.nl/deindustriepodcast.
Won a FIVARS Award in 2019.
Special Mention at Prix Italia 2018. Nominated at IDFA 2018,
Nominated for Prix Europa 2018
Nominated for Prix Bohemia 2019
Produced by:
Corine Meijers,
Submarine Channel
VPRO
Read mere about the project here: www.vpro.nl/programmas/de-industrie.html
The broadcasts are also available as a podcast series via vpro.nl/deindustriepodcast.
Article
In 2017 Mirka published an article on the development in collaboration with H. Koenitz:
Beyond The Timeline a Data-Driven Interface For Interactive Documentary
Abstract
In this paper, we present work on the data-driven interface for The Industry, an interactive documentary in development about the Dutch illicit drug industry. The motivation for the work was to provide a more complete overview of a highly complex matter using a form of interactive digital narratives (IDN).
As it is with many complex issues, news reports on illegal drugs in the Netherlands are mostly fragmented and reactive, which makes it difficult for audiences to gain a good understanding of the topic. The approach starts by obtaining big-data sets from police and media. On this foundation, a narrative interface will be design
ed. This paper reports on the iterative design approach, and interface metaphors, on the lessons learned and the current state of affairs. Our intent with this paper is to fuel a discussion on narrative representations of complexity.