Documentary 'Hindostani Immigration - Through the Eyes of Women'

• Date: 20 March
• Location: Theater en Filmhuis Dakota

5 March to 20 March

Creation of documentary

Working closely with the Hague Historical Museum (HHM), the Municipality of The Hague asked filmmaker Anita Bharos to record the stories of Hindustani immigration. A documentary with a specific focus on the female perspective. This as a follow-up to the HHM's successful 'story salons' as part of their exhibition Koloniaal Den Haag - an unfinished past.

Synopsis documentary

150 years ago, the first ship with contract workers set sail from the port of Calcutta for Suriname. It was the beginning of what we now call "Hindustani immigration. On board were mostly men, but as more people emigrated to Suriname, more and more women joined them. But who were these women anyway? And why did they choose to leave for Suriname? The documentary chronicles the journey of the Hindustani woman as we encounter her today in The Hague, the Netherlands: from British India, through Suriname, to the Netherlands. It is not only about the practical matters that made history, but also about the inner journey of these women, such as the dreams and disappointments and the emancipation of the Hindustani woman.

Descendants of contract workers tell the stories they heard from their parents and grandparents. Surinamist and historian Prof. Dr. Rosemarijn Hoefte expounds on the history of contract labor from the British East Indies to Suriname and interprets the personal stories of Hindustani women from The Hague.

Afterword

On Sunday, March 3, after the screening of the film at 13:00, there will be a discussion with filmmaker Anita Bharos and historian Rosemarijn Hoefte. Attendance is free!

Rosemarijn Hoefte is a historian and senior researcher at the Royal Institute of Language, Geography and Ethnology in Leiden. She is also Extraordinary Professor of the History of Suriname after 1873 at the University of Amsterdam. She received her doctorate from the University of Florida in 1987 for a dissertation on contract labor of British-Indians and Javanese on plantation Mariënburg in Suriname. She has since published several articles on resistance among contract workers and on the position of women contract workers.

Technical details

Length documentary: 52 minutes

Language: Dutch, English, Sarnami

Subtitles: Dutch

Year of release: 2023

Director: Anita Bharos

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