Het Geheim van Ossenisse - De Nieuwe Tijd plot
In 1995 Heijnen made the eponymous, two-part documentary about Ossenisse, a hamlet in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen with 150 inhabitants, three streets, a church and a café. He returns in 2004. The church has since been sold and is empty and the café no longer organizes carnival. Heijnen interviews older residents who see traditional farming village life disappear before their eyes: 'You used to know everyone, but now I don't know my neighbor across the street'. The Kruiningen-Perkpolder ferry has disappeared in favor of a tunnel. "What's that tunnel doing?" sighs an ex-ferryman. But the old Frans still plays the accordion and looks to the future: 'I'll get new curtains this summer'. And the elderly, crooked Fons, retired farmer, still lives independently, in a house that stands timeless in the landscape.