Roeland Kerbosch Filmproduktie

A diary-style triptych about the struggle against apartheid, filmed secretly in South Africa under dangerous circumstances with the support of the then-underground African National Congress.

Filmmaker Mady Saks takes a small – all female, obviously – crew to the very first Vrouwenhuis (Women’s House), which opened in 1973 in a squatted building on Amsterdam’s Nieuwe Herengracht canal. Here, Saks and her crew regularly met with other women from the media. In discussions among the women or between them and the filmmaker, it becomes clear what it means to them to develop without male intervention (men were not allowed in the Women’s House), and to be able to learn from one another. Saks intersperses this with street interviews, through which she sounds out the mood of society in relation to topics such as marriage and the main areas of struggle for the women’s movement. Towards the end of the film, we hear Alix Dobkin’s song Fantasy Girl on the soundtrack as a light-hearted commentary on the developments Saks is presenting. (from: https://player.eyefilm.nl/en/films/de-vrouw-en-haar-vrouwenhuis)