Watch Trailer

Housewitz

  • Netherlands
  • Documentary
  • 2021
  • 71 / 58 min.
  • Director(s): Oeke Hoogendijk
  • Producer(s): Frank van den Engel for Discours Film, Oeke Hoogendijk for Discours Film

Synopsis

Lous, the mother of filmmaker Oeke Hoogendijk, hasn’t left the house for decades. She has a recurring nightmare in which she doesn’t know how to get home, just like the day when as a Jewish girl she was deported.

Scenes which at first sight seem very ordinary—an elderly woman in a living room watching television with her cat—gradually develop into the troubling portrait of an astute woman who has to live each day with the Holocaust as her housemate. Even the Christmas tree, which makes her as happy as a child, still reminds her of the Westerbork concentration camp.

Through their tragicomic telephone conversations and a web camera in the living room, Oeke brings us exceptionally close to her mother. She opens up to us completely, showing her sadness as well as her sharp sense of humor. The filmmaker maintains this clever balance thanks to delicate editing, interspersing her mother’s camp memories with the joys of a TV travel program and the calming effects of house music.

Book a Screening
Watch at Home

Credits

Director(s)

Oeke Hoogendijk

Producer(s)

Frank van den Engel for Discours Film, Oeke Hoogendijk for Discours Film

Executive Producer(s)

Bernet Crucq for Discours Film

Script

Oeke Hoogendijk

Cinematography

Sander Snoep, Jet Homoet, Oeke Hoogendijk

Editor

Katharina Wartena

Original Music

Juho Nurmela

Original Language

Dutch

Subtitles

English

Involved TV Channel

EODocs

Festival Highlights

  • Jury Mention

    for Best Dutch Film
    IDFA
    2021

  • 2nd Place

    Audience Award
    IDFA
    2021

  • Nominated

    for Best short Documentary
    Dutch Golden Calf Award
    2022

Zagreb Jewish Film Festival- Festival of Tolerance , Croatia, 2022

Berlin Jewish Film Festival, Germany, 2022

Millenium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival, Poland, 2022

DOK.fest Munich, Germany, Best of Fest section, 2022

HotDocs, Canada, World Showcase, 2022

Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, Greece, Film Forward International Competition, 2022

IDFA, Netherlands, Envision Competition, 2021

Reviews

  • Remarkable portrait, poignant and expertly illustrated, Harrowing and moving
    NRC
  • Unforgettable, Portrait of an indestructible charismatic woman
    De Volkskrant

You May Also Like

Terms of use