Filming as catharsis, documentary as memoir, this extraordinary film unravels the complex life of Marianne Hertz, a mother, model, arch manipulator and something of a myth, even to her own family. The 95 year old matriarch is filmed by her grandson Fassaert in her home in South Africa where she has constructed a life with no family connections at all. He joins her on a cruise to Europe to re-establish familial ties which remain as elusive as her motives. To her sons she is the mother they never had, to her daughter she is dead and to her grandson she remains an enigma. A family scrapbook with missing pages and blank spaces that makes meaning of memories and why we make them.
Director Fassaert will attend the screening in Cape Town and travels courtesy of Eye Cinema & Netherlands Film Fonds
CT: Tue 7 8.45pm Q&A CN4 V&A
DUTCH FOCUS
These screenings are made possible by the generosity of EYE Institute Netherlands
With the signing of the recent co-production treaty between South Africa and the Netherlands, new international opportunities are opening up for filmmakers in the country. In the spirit of this co-operation, Encounters and EYE International present a focus of three contemporary Dutch documentaries at this year’s festivals. These films reveal the global appeal of recent documentary film production in the Netherlands.
