December
| Wo. 03 | | Dolle Mina then and now: Women of Suriname + A Battle Restored |
| 04 t/m 07 | | Amsterdam Film Meeting 2025 |
| Wo. 10 | | ANIMA + The Line |
| Do. 11 | | Dream Neighbourhood |
| Vr. 12 | | North Caucasian Cinema: Some Interviews on Personal Matters |
| Zo. 14 | | Final Obscura |
| Wo. 17 | | Carnage for Christmas |
| Zo. 21 | | Dag van de Korte Film |
| Zo. 28 | | Pamela fundraiser screening: Fresh Kill |
Woensdag 03 december, 20:30
DOCU
Dolle Mina then and now: Women of Suriname + A Battle Restored + Q&A
EN Fifty years ago, the Dolle Mina's made a name for themselves with their playful campaigns for women's rights. Filmhuis Cavia is now joining forces with Podium Nassau for a series of events exploring different aspects of the heritage of the most famous Dutch feminist collective!
For this first instalment we want to center the decolonial feminist discourses, that organizations such as LOSON (National Organisation of Surinamese in the Netherlands) helped to bring into the limelight in the tumultuous years of the Surinamese run towards independence by showing a double bill of Women of Suriname (1978) and A Battle Restored (2022). The programme will be followed by a Q&A with Surinamese activist and filmmaker Nadia Tilon.
A Battle Restored
Kiki Ho, Ananta Khemradj, Luna Hupperetz | 2022 | NL | 16’ | EN subtitles
Borne out of the restoration process of the forgotten Surinamese documentary Women of Suriname (Oema foe Sranan), this film provides historical context and personal insights into the stories of activism and struggle that enabled the production and distribution of this militant documentary.
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Women of Suriname (Oema foe Sranan)
Cineclub Vrijheidsfilms, LOSON | 1978 | NL, Suriname | 56’ | EN subtitles
Women of Suriname portrays the lives of four women who relate the history of Dutch (neo)colonialism in Surinam and racism and being disenfranchised in the Netherlands using personal stories. A wonderful portrait of the Zeitgeist of the tumultuous run up to independence and the period shortly after the Srefidensi in Surinam. New restoration.
Oema foe Sranan was produced by Cineclub Vrijheidsfilms in cooperation with LOSON (National Organisation of Surinamese in the Netherlands) in the framework of political struggle, as a sign of solidarity between Surinamese and Dutch people who transfer a collective message about the socio-political situation in Surinam and the Surinamese community in the 1970s. The film centres on hoping for better days and liberation from foreign influence.
Bio Nadia Tilon
During her student days, Nadia Tilon (Paramaribo, 1953) became involved in the National Organization of Surinamese Organizations in the Netherlands (LOSON) and with its successor, the Surinamese Workers and Workers Organization (SAWO). The LOSON and the SAWO were involved in the struggle against neo-colonialism in Suriname; for equal rights of the Surinamese diaspora and other marginalized groups in the Netherlands, as well as international solidarity with socialist movements worldwide. Nadia Tilon was part of LOSON’s theater department and acted and sang in various activist shows and music groups during demonstrations and meetings. In 1978 she worked on Oema foe Sranan (Women of Suriname), an anti-colonial film with a socialist slant, made by Cineclub Vrijheidsfilms in collaboration with LOSON and with support of the former Democratic Peoples Front in Suriname.
Donderdag 4 t/m zondag 7 december
FILM FESTIVAL
Amsterdam Film Meeting
NL De Amsterdam Film Meeting is een kleinschalig festival gewijd aan de kunst van cinema als ontmoeting. Deze tweede editie brengt onafhankelijke filmmakers, filmgeschiedenissen en publiek (lokaal en internationaal) samen voor vertoningen, gesprekken en uitgebreide cinema-evenementen. Het festival hecht veel waarde aan aanwezigheid en bevordert een voortdurende dialoog tussen films en degenen die ernaar kijken. Het wordt sinds 2024 georganiseerd en uitgevoerd in samenwerking met Filmhuis Cavia. MEER→
EN The Amsterdam Film Meeting is a small-scale festival devoted to the art of cinema as encounter. In its second edition, it brings together independent filmmakers, film histories, and audiences (local and international) for screenings, conversations, and expanded cinema events. The festival values presence and promotes an ongoing dialogue between films and those who watch them. It is hosted and run in collaboration with Filmhuis Cavia since 2024. MORE→
Woensdag 10 december, 20:30
CONTEMPORARY
ANIMA
Josefien van Kooten & Anna Witte | NL | 2025 | 27’ | EN subtitles
NL In de korte documentaire ANIMA wordt de kijker meegenomen naar de surrealistische wereld van de Rotterdamse haven, waar mens en machine versmelten in een technologische omgeving. Zeevarenden verblijven maandenlang op schepen in transit, slechts verbonden met de buitenwereld via hun telefoon. Tussen werken en rusten door brengt de havenpastor soms een bezoek, of kunnen ze zich verliezen in troostende karaoke. Met adembenemende beelden en een poëtische vertelstijl neemt ANIMA de kijker mee op een cinematografische reis door de haven, waarin de essentie van menselijk verlangen en de worsteling met technologische omgevingen op indringende wijze worden verkend. De film nodigt uit tot introspectie over de fragiliteit van menselijke connecties in een wereld die voortdurend streeft naar meer. Het biedt een unieke kijk op de menselijke ervaring in een zowel betoverende als verontrustende omgeving. Wij maken dingen, maar de dingen maken ook ons.
EN The short documentary ANIMA transports viewers to the surreal world of the Port of Rotterdam, where humans and machines merge in a technological environment. Seafarers spend months in transit on ships, connected only to the outside world through their phones. Between work and rest, the port chaplain occasionally visits, or they can lose themselves in comforting karaoke. With breathtaking images and a poetic narrative style, ANIMA takes viewers on a cinematic journey through the port, poignantly exploring the essence of human desire and the struggle with technological environments. The film invites introspection about the fragility of human connection in a world constantly striving for more. It offers a unique perspective on the human experience in an environment that is both enchanting and disturbing. We make things, but things also make us.
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The Line
Andreea Dimitriu | 2025 | NL, Romania | 40’ | EN subtitles
NL Met het herstel van de godsdienstvrijheid na de val van het communisme heeft Roemenië de afgelopen decennia een geleidelijke heropleving van pelgrimstochten meegemaakt. The Line neemt je mee naar het hart van de pelgrimstocht ter ere van de heilige Parascheva in Iași, Roemenië. In een kilometerslange rij wachten ongeveer 250.000 pelgrims om te bidden bij het heiligdom van de heilige. Door stille observaties en intieme gesprekken biedt de film een blik in de denkwereld van vele Roemenen die niet alleen spirituele genade zoeken, maar ook een gevoel van hoop en verbondenheid te midden van de sociale en economische onzekerheden van het dagelijks leven.
EN With religious freedom restored after the fall of communism, Romania has witnessed a steady revival of pilgrimages over the last few decades. The Line takes you into the heart of the Saint Parascheva pilgrimage in Iași, Romania. In a kilometers long line, around 250.000 pilgrims are waiting to pray at the saint’s shrine. Through quiet observations and intimate conversations, the film offers a glimpse into the mindset of many Romanians seeking not only spiritual grace but also a sense of hope and belonging amid the social and economic uncertainties of everyday life.
Donderdag 11 december, 20:30
CLASSIC
Dream Neighbourhood (Synoikia to Oneiro)
Alekos Alexandrakis | 1961 | Greece | 105’ | EN subtitles
NL Ingeklemd tussen de historische Filopappouheuvel – oftewel de Heuvel van de Muzen – en Ano Petralona, biedt de vervallen arme wijk Asyrmatos onderdak aan een bleke mozaïek van arme arbeiders en sociale paria's. Rikos, een net vrijgelaten kleine crimineel, heeft zijn volgende oplichterij bedacht – een onfeilbaar plan om aan de armoede te ontsnappen. Ondertussen verspilt Stefania, Rikos' jeugdliefde, haar jeugd aan vluchtige relaties met rijke partners, met het verlangen om de sloppenwijken voor eens en altijd te ontvluchten. Maar het leven speelt wrede spelletjes met mensen. En te midden van een verontrustende realiteit die voor het oog verborgen is, zullen valse beloften en verbrijzelde dromen uiteindelijk degenen die durfden te denken aan ontsnappen op hun knieën brengen.
EN Squeezed between the historic Filopappou Hill—or the Hill of the Muses—and Ano Petralona, the ramshackle pauper neighbourhood of Asyrmatos gives shelter to a pale mosaic of poverty-stricken toilers and social pariahs. As a result, Rikos, a small-time crook freshly released from jail, has devised his next scam—a foolproof plan to escape poverty. In the meantime, Stefania, Rikos' childhood sweetheart, squanders her youth on fleeting liaisons with wealthy partners, thirsting to flee the slums once and for all. However, life plays cruel tricks on people. And amid an unsettling reality hidden in plain sight, false promises and shattered dreams will eventually bring those who dared to contemplate escape to their knees.
Vrijdag 12 december, 20:30
CLASSIC
North Caucasian Cinema
Some Interviews on Personal Matters
Lana Gogoberidze | 1978 | Soviet Georgia | 95’ | EN subtitles
EN A pioneering work of feminist filmmaking from the legendary Lana Gogoberidze, Some Interviews on Personal Matters is one of the most vital films produced in Soviet Georgia. The iconic Sofiko Chiaureli (The Colour of Pomegranates) stars as a journalist struggling to balance her commitment to her work and the demands of her unfaithful husband. Gogoberidze drew on her own tumultuous life story for this portrait of a woman in search of the true meaning of equality. Some Interviews on Personal Matters is a love letter to women.
From September to December 2025, Filmhuis Cavia shows a selection of films from the North Caucasian region, specifically Chechnya and Georgia. You can find the full program HERE.
Zondag 14 december, 20:30
EXPERIMENTAL
Final Obscura
James Fotopoulos | 2024 | USA | 71’ | no dialogue
EN The past, present and future. Final Obscura is a visionary film that unfolds on a space where the lines between past, present, and future dissolve into a single, phantasmic experience—an Exquisite Corpse of perception, desire, and transcendent imagination. The film submerses the viewer in a captivating, liminal dimension where the waking and dreaming worlds merge, inviting us to reflect on the nature of time, and the anamorphic emerging worlds of the anamnesis expression in seeing the sound. (text by artist/curator Ruxandra Mitache)
The films of James Fotopoulos have screened widely including the Whitney Biennial, Sundance Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, London Film Festival, Festival del Film Locarno, Walker Art Center, Museum of Modern Art, Andy Warhol Museum, Museum of Art and Design, Museum of the Moving Image, MOMA PS1, etc. His work has been discussed in Artforum, The New York Times, The Village Voice, Film Comment, Filmmaker Magazine, New York Post, and others. In 1998 he founded Fantasma for the production of his second feature Migrating Forms (1999).
Woensdag 17 december, 20:30
CONTEMPORARY
Carnage for Christmas
Alice Maio Mackey | 2024 | Australia | 69’ | no subtitles
NL Vier een bloederige queer kerst met hilarische, camp horror Carnage for Christmas van Australische trans filmmaker Alice Maio Mackey. Wanneer een true crime podcaster terugkeert naar haar thuisstad, voor de eerste keer sinds haar transitie, ontdekt ze dat een mysterieuze urban legend op moordpad is geslagen. Met haar queer vriendengroep gaat ze op onderzoek.
Maio Mackey geeft haar eigen draai aan de lange traditie van kerstslashers á la Black Christmas en Silent Night. Nog maar 20 jaar oud was ze toen ze deze film maakte, met een minimaal budget maar met een heerlijk enthousiaste crew, waaronder Vera Drew (regisseur van The People’s Joker).
EN Celebrate a queer bloody Christmas with the hilarious, camp horror Carnage for Christmas from Australian trans filmmaker Alice Maio Mackey. When a true crime podcaster returns to her hometown for the first time since transitioning, she discovers that a mysterious urban legend has gone on a killing spree. With her queer group she sets out to investigate.
Maio Mackey puts her own spin on the long tradition of holiday slashers with the likes of Black Christmas and Silent Night. Only 20 years old when she made this film with a non-existent budget but a wonderfully enthusiastic group of friends, including Vera Drew (director of The People's Joker).
Zondag 21 december, 20:30
SPECIAL
Dag van de Korte Film
Various | 2025 | NL | 87' | EN subtitles
NL Ook in Filmhuis Cavia kun je op de kortste dag van het jaar, 21 december, genieten van de beste korte films van eigen bodem, gepresenteerd door Go Short, Eye Filmmuseum en Nederlands Filmfestival. MEER→
EN On the shortest day of the year, 21 December, you can also enjoy the best short films from the Netherlands in Filmhuis Cavia. Presented by Go Short, Eye Filmmuseum and Nederlands Filmfestival. MORE→
Zondag 28 december, 18:00
Classic
Pamela fundraiser screening
Fresh Kill
Shu Lea Cheang | 1994 | US, UK | 80’ | no subtitles
EN We are honoured to share Shu Lea Cheang’s monumental 1994 sci-fi debut, Fresh Kill, as part of the ongoing fundraising efforts to support our friends and neighbours at Pamela, a queer bar in Amsterdam West.
Shu Lea Cheang has spent her career creating works that elegantly grapple with the complexities of activism, racial and sexual politics, critical media theory, and erotic exploration. Her first feature, made in collaboration with Sarita Choudhury, Erin McMurtry, Vernon Reid, and Pedro Pietri, among many other cultural icons, shimmers with queer grace amidst a decaying New York of the future. Inspired by Staten Island’s notorious sprawling landfill and the Taiwanese government's nuclear pollution of Orchid Island, Cheang’s work offers us the ecofeminist wisdom we need to survive the grim realities of these times with our hearts and communities intact.
The screening will start at 18:00 with doors open (and margaritas shaking) from 17:00.
Tickets will be €8 (€3 for Cineville members) and available for pre-sale HERE.
Let’s not let Pamela slip away!