The town of Aalsmeer was and still is the flowers capital of the Netherlands. It is the place where large numbers of growers sell their beautiful produce for distribution all over the world.
The nearby Schiphol airport is very convenient to ship flowers, plants and bulbs, keeping them as fresh as can be.
As you will see in this film, Alsmeer is a major hub in this very tradional Dutch trade sector, especially in view of the many auction houses that link sellers and buyers.
The trade is done on the basis of Dutch auctions whereby a large clock shows a rapidly decreasing purchase price for the goods at hand. The buyer who first stops the clock by pressing his or her button gets the goods at the indicated price on the clock.

This film has been restored, enhanced and colorized by means of modern video software based on Artificial Intelligence, A.I.

Source: Beeld en Geluid
Music: Trevor Kowalski.