Flower Fever

Each year on the first Sunday in September, the village of Zundert in the Dutch province of Brabant is turned on its head. On that day, seventeen different hamlets compete fanatically for first prize in the local floral procession competition, or bloemencorso. The procession floats are magnificent structures, whose highly respected productions bear such names as Mystery and Thousand Faces. They are covered with hundreds of thousands of brightly coloured dahlias, cultivated in the months leading up to the procession.

The float makers work for months on their creations with heart and soul. Pride, perseverance, joy and disappointment are among the emotions they experience on the way to the moment of truth. The announcement of the prize winners brings forth an explosion of emotions and festivities which continue until the wee hours of the morning.
Flower Fever is a film about enthusiasm. For some of the protagonists, the yearly cycle of the floral procession is something which helps give meaning to their daily lives, for some it is a dream, or a means of escape. In any case, however, it is an inevitable fact.