Film screening ‘Veiled Offerings’

• Duration: 12.30 minutes

• From 12 Juni until 19 July

• Thurs-Sat 13.00-17.00

• Hotel Maria Kapel Cinema

From 12 June to 19 July, patricia kaersenhout's short film Veiled Offerings (2025) screens in the cinema at Hotel Maria Kapel. Shown alongside it is the participatory project Draden van ons Nederlandse slavernijverleden, displayed upstairs in the chapel. Both works address the ongoing impact of colonial history in the present day.

In the film, you see veiled dancers representing ancestral spirits from West Africa. A voice accompanies the images, recounting a history of oppression and calling for love and liberation. The poetic text is occasionally interrupted by a screen displaying the horrific punishments prescribed by the Code Noir (1685–1848), which enslaved people were forced to endure. This is always followed by a powerful counter-narrative that reclaims the humanity of those who were enslaved. 

Veiled Offerings breaks a pattern of silence, as the film also emphasises: “More than 350 years of oppression, and yet you remained silent for 150 years”.

About patricia kaersenhout
patricia kaersenhout is a renowned artist in the Netherlands and internationally. She has held solo and group exhibitions at numerous places, including the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the Centraal Museum Utrecht and the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. Her artistic practice explores her Surinamese background, encompassing themes such as feminism, sexuality, racism, and the history of slavery. While kaersenhout dreams of worlds of peace and joy, she also focuses on hidden histories and the collective memory that has been so profoundly shaped by colonialism and Western modernity. Veiled Offerings has previously been shown at the Netherlands Film Festival and Art Rotterdam.