Before and after Independence
Cinema probably arrived in Suriname in the 1910s, but did not take root in the country. The few films from this period were documentaries made by Dutch settlers. From this period, you can discover the short film Land of the Djuka (1933), a kind of film newsreel by the American Fitzpatrick, viewable online. The day after Suriname's independence saw the release of the first Surinamese film, Wan Pipel (A People, 1976), by filmmaker Pim de la Parra. Far from being a neophyte at the time, this director had already enjoyed a ten-year career, with prestigious collaborations such as on the film Obsessions (1969), co-written by Martin Scorsese. But it was with Wan Pipel that Pim de la Parra opened the history of Surinamese cinema. A story aimed at all Surinamese audiences, it stars Surinamese actor Borger Breeveld and Dutch actress Willeke van Ammelrooy and Indo-Surinamese Diana Gangaram Panday. Unfortunately, the film went completely over budget during shooting, and failed to convince audiences. The result was the bankruptcy of Scorpio Films, the production company behind the project.
Although this initial impetus could have been the spark that ignited Surinamese cinema, it was not to be. While local production was not encouraged by the Dutch occupiers before independence, the Surinamese government continued in the same vein. A situation that continues to this day. In this context, only private or external initiatives can lead to cinematographic creation, while the market remains - as in the first half of the twentieth century - dominated by Indian, Hollywood and European productions. Nevertheless, a few films have been made in Suriname in recent decades. Ger Poppelaars' thriller Paramaribo Papers (2001) was released in Surinamese cinemas, before being broadcast in the Netherlands as a TV movie. In 2013, Jean van de Velde's Hoe duur was de suiker (2013), mostly shot in Suriname, opened the Nederlands Film Festival in Utrecht. And recently, the number of films produced in the country has been on the rise, driven by an ever-increasing desire to create.
Can you watch movies in Suriname?
After a very difficult period and the closure of many cinemas in the 1990s, several foundations and schools are now involved in the development of a cinema culture in Suriname. Since 2002, the Back Lot Foundation has been organizing film-related events in Paramaribo several times a year. The main ones are the Internationaal Speelfilm Festival in April, and the Internationale Documentaire Festival in December. More recently, the TBL Cinema also welcomes you to the capital to discover the latest releases, as well as classics depending on the season.
