Mother Suriname
Mama Sranan

Tessa Leuwsha

Runtime 71 minutes

A woman looks back on her life, through narration and song. In Mother Suriname – Mama Sranan, filmmaker Tessa Leuwsha uses a stream of fascinating colorized archival footage to illustrate the lives of Surinamese women like her grandmother, who was a washerwoman.  

“Moeder Suriname is niet alleen een biografie, maar ook een portret van een kolonie op weg naar onafhankelijkheid” ★★★★☆

– Pauline Kleijer voor De Volkskrant

“Het is een adembenemende reis geworden door de geschiedenis van Suriname.”

– Guus Schulting voor De Filmkrant

“Tessa Leuwsha maakt Surinaamse geschiedenis invoelbaar” 

– David Hielkema voor Het Parool

She’s born in a hamlet in 1905 to a white mother and a black father—a disgrace. Her father is forced to leave and her mother also disappears. She’s despised as a half-caste, does not go to school and soon becomes aware of the state of colonial relations (“we work and they watch”). She has a child whose father is always elsewhere, working for the Dutch. Determined to make the most of her life, she moves to Paramaribo, where she has three more children she raises on her own. Meanwhile, she sees her homeland moving towards more self-esteem. Before Suriname’s independence in 1975 however, all her children move to the Netherlands—and she eventually follows them, with sorrow in her heart: “In Holland, paradise is like a shadow, just in front of you or behind you, never with you.” Still, strong-willed as she is, she finds a place where she connects with her homeland, her spiritual roots and herself.  

Playing in cinemas throughout the country starting November 16, see playlist