Dream & Deed

From 1891 to 1927, the Dutch poet Henriette Roland Holst underwent a dramatic development. Originally from an affluent bourgeois family, her idealism and convictions led her to join the socialist movement. After returning from the Soviet Union feeling disillusioned, she realized that she didn’t feel at home in any of the left-wing political parties. Later, she would reflect on this period in her autobiography The Fire Rages On. The film reconstructs this period with the use of old film material combined with texts by Holst herself. There are also excerpts from letters, poems, speeches and books, supplemented with personal commentary by the filmmaker. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)