PATIENCE, PATIENCE, YOU'LL GO TO PARADISE (BELGIUM)
PRIX EUROPA IRIS INTERCULTURAL TELEVISION PROGRAMME OF THE YEAR 2015 TV NON-FICTION
Author & Director: Hadja Lahbib
Produced by: Les passeurs de Lumiere
Broadcast by: RTBF Belgium
In the 1960s, thousands of North Africans came to work in Belgium. Among them were women who had left everything behind to follow their men to an unknown country. “Patience, patience—you’ll get to heaven,” is what these women are repeatedly told to encourage them to put up with their lives without complaining. Fifty years on, some of them are savoring emancipation. They turn out to be incredibly fun, loving, and capable of uninhibited self-mockery. This film follows them as they make new discoveries, through the simplicity of their excursions, their warm femininity, and sense of humor.
JURY LAUDATIO:
This heart warming tale of female friendship and empowerment is told through the eyes of a group of women emerging from a life-time spent in the shadow of their husbands. Mina and her friends left Morocco as girls and lived as housewives in Belgium. For decades their world shrinks to the confinement of family and home. The film charts their journey to emancipation. We see them regain their youthful enthusiasm and fulfil their dreams. At a time when the media portrays Muslim women as silent and oppressed, this film shows strength, comradeship and independent spirit through intimate portraits and humour.
