When director Emma Lesuis’s father-in-law hands her a suitcase that belonged to his late grandfather, Maarten de Niet, an unsettling family history is about to unfold. The suitcase contains an archive of photographs, political documents, newspaper articles and a double-faced doll: white on one side, black on the other. From 1926 to 1953, De Niet was Attorney General and Acting Governor of Suriname. As such, he was involved in the arrest of resistance fighter Anton de Kom, and the imprisonment in a psychiatric institution of trade union leader Louis Doedel. During this same period, Emma’s own Surinamese grandparents lived under De Niet’s government. Their worlds touched, but were effectively separated by power and origins. Emma has Surinamese roots on her mother’s side. At a time when the debate about colonial legacies grows ever more urgent, she decides to open the archive. She does so while expecting a child who will combine both histories. As a film maker of Surinamese origin, what does it mean to investigate the colonial past of her in-laws, and her own?
What will her child inherit?

Including introduction and talk with filmmaker Emma Maria Lesuis

Cineville valid at the door and online on the day of the screening!