At first she made her new movie Dear Mr Bouterse for Surinamese. Her countryis still deeply divided over the military coup d’état by the sergeant andlater president Desi Bouterse in 1980 and the aftermath of the Decembermurders in 1982, when fifteen critics of Bouterse’s regime were murdered inFort Zeelandia.
“A country that does not dare to face its past has no future,” says filmmakerAnanta Khemradj. Khemradj is 32 years old, was born in Tilburg, worked as ajournalist for the Surinamese current affairs program ABC Current and backin the Netherlands combines a day job in the agricultural sector with a lifeas a filmmaker. In You can read (2019) she was surprised that she and hercontemporaries know so little about Suriname’s past. Dear Mr Bouterse is thesequel. Now she questions friends and acquaintances, former colleagues,’boutists’ and relatives of the victims of the December murders about howSuriname should proceed. The film became a sensitive and impressive quest forconnection.
She chose to only talk to people close to her. “A real conversation requires acertain vulnerability. It was quite difficult to get people in front of thecamera. In addition, I felt responsible for the environment in which I grewup, which is more the side of the next of kin.” This is apparent, for example,from the emotional telephone conversations with her journalistic mentor, whobelieves that every film on this subject provides Bouterse with a platform.
However, her film also has a message for the Dutch viewer. “The Netherlandsmust take its responsibility and open the archives.” The film recalls howPrime Minister Rutte determined in 2014 that these will remain closed until2060, leaving a lot of uncertainty about, among other things, the Dutchinfluence on the coup. Khemradj visits PvdA politician Jan Pronk, who wasinvolved in independence as the then Minister of Development Cooperation. Heargues that the archives must now be opened if a process of processing andreconciliation is ever to take place. 2060 is too late. President Santokhisays in the film that he will work to open the archives. Khemradj: „There isno openness now. The people who can tell something about it don’t have thatlong to live, so how long do I have to wait?”
There was even laughter during the film, but during the discussion the> emotions ran high again
Dear Mr Bouterse is, as the title implies, set up as a letter to the formerarmy chief. Until the end, it remains unclear whether she will actually get tospeak to him. Khemradj consults her old group of friends about it, one of thefilm’s most poignant moments, which, like You can read calls for a sequel.Khemradj: „I feel that too, but I don’t know if I can do that now. This wassuch an intense journey that there must first be room for conversation andreflection.” Can the film achieve that? She hopes so. For a private screeningin Suriname this summer, she brought all those involved together. “There waseven laughter during the film, but during the discussion the emotions ran highagain.”
New investigation into the December murders is currently not high on theagenda. Suriname is going through a turbulent time again. Last summer therewere protests against President Santokhi’s nepotism. The country is also in aserious economic crisis. Khemradj: “There is never a good time to make thisfilm. My generation may not even benefit or benefit from it right now, it issurviving. But then we have to do it for future generations.”
Filmmaker Pim de la Parra, who made the ‘first Surinamese film’ in 1976. Wanpipel (“One people”) made, says in Dear Mr Bouterse that it may still take“2,300 years” before there is unity in Suriname. “I am not that pessimistic,but he is right that it will take a long time. It takes more than just a fewanswers in a report, or compensation. And the Netherlands also has a role toplay. We need to gain insight into how the decolonization process went,otherwise it will just keep on simmering.”