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Woman in the Mirror

Mata Hari prepares for her first dance performance at the Musée Guimet in Paris in 1905. Dutch maid Anna Lintjens, who helps with the preparations, is in awe of this self-empowered Indian princess. Nobody knows that Mata Hari’s real name is Margaretha Geertruida Zelle. She is a Dutch woman with a difficult past. Monsieur Noir, a skeptical journalist, tries to find her out and she soon realizes a lot is at stake, should she actually dance.

  • Karoline Vielemeyer
    Director
    Big City Fever
  • Annette Hildebrand and Karoline Vielemeyer
    Writer
  • Annette Hildebrand
    Producer
  • Katarina Strahinic
    Key Cast
    "Mata Hari"
  • Stephanie Lexer
    Key Cast
    "Anna Lintjens"
  • Nico Birnbaum
    Key Cast
    "Monsieur Noir"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    17 minutes 46 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    July 1, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    10,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Germany
  • Country of Filming:
    Germany
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.39:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Karoline Vielemeyer

Karoline is a film director & editor. She has studied and worked in Philadelphia, New York, Paris, Toulouse, Prague, and Berlin.
She graduated from Mount Holyoke College (MA, USA) in 2012 and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre Arts and French. Karoline graduated from Prague Film School in 2015 with a specialization in directing and editing. Her film Big City Fever was selected and awarded in numerous festivals in the US and around the world. She is currently an MFA candidate in the dramaturgy program at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale.

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Director Statement

When people heard that we are making a film about Mata Hari, they often asked: the spy? Interestingly, before we started our research, we mostly heard about her as a double spy and a 'maneater'. We think this fairly negative image overshadows the impacts that she had on female empowerment. We not only wanted to paint a more humane picture of her, but also highlight her crucial moment of empowerment. From a feminist view, Mata Hari's first performance in 1905 at the Musée Guimet in Paris was not only the beginning of a successful career but also a significant foundation for female liberation.

"Woman in the Mirror" looks at the moment leading up to Mata Hari's first performance. Her real name was Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, a Dutch woman, who had lost everything, after not abiding to the social constraints of her time. She reinvented herself as the persona Mata Hari and became a pioneer for female empowerment. As a semi-nude dancer, she not only revolutionized the image of the female body but managed to built her own career when women were not even allowed to have a bank account. She became the shooting star of the Belle Epoque.