Verleden aanwezig

Verleden aanwezig is a documentary about five women from different countries who have their imprisonment in the women's concentration camp Ravensbrück in common. The increasing xenophobia in Europe emphatically confronts these women with the past. In the film, they express their vision on past, present and future. They recount their memories and link them to events in their present-day lives. Recent newscast images and archive footage connect the present with the past. The five women are the Austrian gypsy Ceija Stoijka, who fears for her children's future; the Dutch artist Aat Breur, who does not want to be reminded of the war; the Russian Stella Nikivorova, who lost her mother in Ravensbrück; Antonina Nikivorova, who took pity on Stella and was sent to Siberia after her return from Ravensbrück; and the Italian Lidia Rolfi, who is still politically active in the Socialist Party. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)