Paradise Morbid

Frank van der Meer (65) calls himself a "professional junkie" and has survived the most violent era of Amsterdam’s Red Light District. Growing up in Amsterdam-Oost, he found himself at a young age surrounded by illegal casinos and prostitutes. From being a successful cocaine dealer to ending up as a street junkie, he not only outlived his narcissistic brother—who even robbed their mother—but also endured a violent childhood. Frank chose to leave his home, which led him, as a teenager, into a dangerous environment. Not long after, he became a victim of sexual abuse when someone spiked his drink with Antarax and raped him.

With no way out in sight, Frank surrendered himself to a dark and adventurous time, surviving and fighting on the streets of the Red Light District during the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. In an era where Amsterdam is now greener than ever and junkies seem to have disappeared from the streets, Frank takes us back to a world where anything was still possible. He shares his traumatic childhood and multiple near-death experiences. Frank has been set on fire, thrown into a canal, stabbed, broken all his bones, survived cancer, and is immune to AIDS—all of this before turning thirty. An absolute antihero, a man whom society seems to prefer forgotten rather than remembered. In today’s Amsterdam, he appears to no longer exist, yet many of us secretly miss him.

Paradise Morbid sheds light on Frank’s bizarre survival story from a unique, first-person perspective. The viewer is pulled into the chaotic and dangerous world of street warfare in the Red Light District. From the moment the Chinese took over Zeedijk and got everyone hooked on opium to his multiple near-death experiences in the OLVG hospital. His story forms the backbone of a film that stylistically and with dark humor portrays Amsterdam’s heroin epidemic. The result is a film that unveils inescapable life lessons and brings the tension and danger of surviving on the streets closer than ever before.

As Frank himself puts it: "I’m not afraid of dying, but afraid of living."