28th THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL
5 MARCH → 15 MARCH 2026
Sections: Human Rights

The Netherlands 2009 52 Digibeta Color
Flowers love people. Anyway, that is what the flower growing industry is trying to propagate. But whether flowers actually do love people, well, that remains the question. a Blooming Business is a poetic documentary about people in Kenya who are imprisoned by the power of the global flower growing industry. The dilemmas of the industry grow painfully clear and a dark world of oppression, sexual abuse and terrible working conditions unfolds. There is only one conclusion possible: the smell of the imported rose is not sweet, but bitter. The film combines pure observation with direct comments by the main characters. The camera is present and absent at the same time and reshapes the documentary. With great humanism van Zantvoort shows us a different world where all human life is valuable.