Private Project

Against the Current - a Plastic Soup Surfer Journey

What drives someone to cross an entire country alone for a seemingly hopeless cause? In Against the Current, Merijn Tinga paddles 1,250 kilometers through France — battling blisters, rejection, and despair — in a journey that becomes both a protest against plastic pollution and a search for purpose. A visually poetic portrait of endurance, conviction, and the thin line between idealism and exhaustion.

  • Jasper Strik
    Director
  • Merijn Tinga
    Key Cast
  • Eelke Dekker
    Cinematographer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    32 minutes 23 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    October 17, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    7,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Netherlands
  • Country of Filming:
    France
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Leiden International Film Festival
    Leiden
    Netherlands
    October 17, 2025
Director Biography - Jasper Strik

Jasper Strik is a Dutch filmmaker and animator who loves to look for the human side of stories..
His work often explores social themes and our relationship with the environment.
In Against the Current, he follows environmentalist Merijn Tinga on a 1,250 km solo paddle through France — a journey of endurance and conviction.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Against the Current began with a question: what kind of environment does Merijn try to influence as a foreign activist in France? We wanted to understand the landscape he’s entering — socially, politically, and mentally — and what it means to act within it. What started as a look at that context became a film about persistence itself: about one person testing the limits of his body, his ideals, and his hope. In the end, the film asks a simple but difficult question: is it worth doing something when the chance of success is small?