Eine gefangene Frau

A Woman Captured

Experts estimate that there are 1.2 million individuals living as slaves in private households in Europe. The police and authorities are supposedly powerless to change this situation. Director Bernadett Tuza-Ritter finds a unique form of access to one of those affected. For over 18 months, she documents the everyday existence of Marish, who works for a family from morning till night without remuneration. As soon as she gets up, she makes breakfast for everybody, feeds the animals and makes the beds, before heading off to a factory to work. Marish is forced to hand over her wages, she is never allowed to join the others at the dinner table, she gets precious few hours of sleep every night, on a simple couch. She has been living this way for eleven years now and an exit strategy seems unthinkable. At least until the director takes an interest in her story and through her accompaniment helps Marish to fight back against her exploitation and regain a life of her own. When Bernadett Tuza-Ritter first encountered Marish’s self-appointed master, she knew virtually nothing about the extent of modern slavery and was appalled that such situations exist in the midst of Europe today. With her powerful portrait, the director reveals an unfathomable black hole of human injustice at the heart of our society.

Source: goEast film festival 2018