Filmmaker present: Ida Does, director of Trefossa

Ida Does, director of the documentary Trefossa

Ida Does is the director of the documentary Trefossa, about the Surinamese writer Henri de Ziel (Trefossa). Ms. Does will be present at the screening of the film at MovieTowne on the opening day of the Festival, Wednesday 16 September, at 3:00pm. Below is a short synopsis of the film.

Trefossa (Henri de Ziel, 1916 – 1975) was a Surinamese neo-romantic poet. He wrote primarily about the beauty of his native country, and did so, famously, in Sranan, Suriname’s colloquial language that was considered “Negro-speak” and banned from schools’ curricula in favour of Dutch. Among other accomplishments, Trefossa is known for his work Trotji, a collection of 19 poems that proved influential to generations of Surinamese writers and for writing Sranan stanzas of Suriname’s national anthem in the mid-1940s.

This intimate documentary, through interviews with Trefossa’s colleagues, family, and former students, creates a compelling picture of a somewhat enigmatic man, one of the most important figures in the history of modern Suriname.