Not so long ago, filmmaker Sophie Dros was in the Eye building in Amsterdam, watching boats on the river pass by. Among them, she noticed a cruise ship. Dros first thought to herself what a hellish experience it would be as a passenger on such a trip, in such a claustrophobic setting. Her next thought was that this could be an ideal setting for a film.

“For me, a documentary always starts with something I don’t understand. I just want to dive in and find out if it is something I can learn to understand,” Dros (whose earlier film My Silicon Love was about men and love dolls) says of the instinct that led her to set off on a cruise around the Caribbean, one that she anticipated she would hate.

A fellow passenger was Baron Ronald Busch Reisinger of Inneryne, a flamboyant figure who claimed to be part of the Scottish aristocracy. Through production company HALAL, she had already managed to contact the Baron and had met him in Edinburgh. He had agreed to be the main character in the film.

Dros found the Baron “very demanding.” She didn’t always agree with his right wing and sexist views. “For me, as a feminist filmmaker, that is sometimes difficult to hear and see.” However, she also realised he was a fascinating character. “I don’t think you have to be friends to make a film,” she reflects.

The Baron could easily have been made into a figure of fun but Dros was determined to treat him with respect and to “protect” him. “I wanted to make a film about visibility, about a person who really feels the need to be seen and to tell people about who he is.”

Reisinger seems to be the soul of the party but she detected a loneliness and insecurity underneath his bluster.

Making King of the Cruise (IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary) required director Dros to spend weeks in an environment that, in normal circumstances, she would have been desperate to avoid. “I am quite like the Baron in a way. I probably have a really big need to be seen and to matter. Otherwise, I don’t know why I would have forced myself to make this film.”

The Baron has already seen the documentary. He had very mixed feelings about it. “He told me that I made [look] him way more lonely than he really is. I told him I portrayed him quite well. I think he expected something else, a big, bombastic show around him. Instead, he found the film quite slow and boring and that it made him look like a lonely old man. ”

Whatever his reservations, Reisinger still plans to attend the IDFA premiere. “His words were that he is a professional so he will show up. No matter what his opinion is about the film, the most important thing (for him) is that the film is going to be seen.”

Director & script: Sophie Dros Production: Halal Docs - Olivia Sophie van Leeuwen Sales: Dogwoof

Making her new documentary Behind The Blood required Loretta van der Horst to return to Honduras, the country of her birth. The film was shot in San Pedro Sula, a city where life is very cheap. With soldiers, cops and drug dealers all on the streets, levels of violence are very high.

The project has its origins in a research trip to Honduras that Van der Horst made as part of a postgraduate degree in Conflict Studies and Human Rights. Her teachers allowed her to combine written material with the development of a documentary in her dissertation.

“I was there for two months writing a thesis and interviewing people for the documentary, which helped build my network,” the director remembers of her first trip to the town. She had heard about a pastor, Daniel Pacheco, who was trying to “make peace” in one of the city’s most dangerous neighbourhoods. The moment she met him, she knew Pacheco was “special” and wanted to tell his story. She wasn’t able to stay for long but kept in touch with the pastor by phone after she left. Eventually, she was able to return. This time, she brought a cameraman with her.

As long as she was with the Pastor, the director felt safe. He was widely respected, knew everybody and could intercede if there were problems. “As soon as he wasn’t there, that was when things were a little more tricky.” Through Pacheco, she met a troubled hitman, Matathan. And via other acquaintances she also got in touch with a third protagonist – the TV news reporter Orlin Castro, who had become inured to violence after covering murder after murder.

The locals were surprised when she told them about her own Honduran roots. “They thought it was cool,” she says. “They liked it, they embraced it.” She had left the country as a very young child and feels herself to be Dutch but felt a natural empathy with her Honduran hosts.

Van Der Horst spent 60 days filming in the city. She and her editors then spent several months editing the project. Pacheco was shown an early version. With continued violence in Honduras, and an unending exodus of migrants heading to the USA, she hopes the film will give the Pastor a bigger platform for positive change in his community.

Director & script: Loretta van der Horst Production: Conijn Film - Wout Conijn Sales: Kew Media