Ida Does, née Chin-A-Loi (born 1955), is a Surinamese-born Dutch journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. After working at Omroep West (TV West) as a reporter, editor-in-chief, and program director, she began making independent films, mainly focused on art, culture, colonialism, and social justice. Her documentaries have won awards in Canada, the Netherlands, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Ida Does
Ida Does, 2023
Born
Ida Chin-A-Loi

1955 (age 68–69)
NationalityDutch
Other namesIda Does-Chin A Loi
Occupation(s)teacher, journalist, writer, filmmaker

Early life and education edit

Ida Chin-A-Loi was born in 1955 in Paramaribo, capital of the constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Suriname.[1] She left Suriname as a young child to attend school, studying at the Media Academy of Hilversum and the Maurits Binger Film Institute of Amsterdam.[1][2] After completing her education, Chin-A-Loi returned to Suriname, but fled to Aruba in 1982 after the Moiwana massacre during the dictatorship of Dési Bouterse.[2] She married Henri Does [nl], a Surinamse publicist and intellectual.[3][4]

Career edit

Does began her career as a journalist, publishing Dutch-language articles in various media such as Algemeen Dagblad, Vrij Nederland, and other magazines and newspapers in Aruba, the Netherlands, and Suriname.[1][5] In the late 1980s, she combined social work with media, producing an informational film about the cultural problems of immigrant girls attending the Anne Frank Secondary School in The Hague.[6][7] In the 1990s, she served as editor-in-chief of the Surinamese cultural journal Mutyama and the Aruban edition of the newspaper, Amigoe.[1][8] She has also written stories for Dutch radio station VPRO's program De Avonden and worked at the broadcast company Omroep West (TV West) as a reporter, editor-in-chief, and program director.[1]

In 2007, Does began working as an independent filmmaker.[1] Many of her works are inspired by her interest in history, particularly the pioneering figures of Caribbean colonial history, their legacy, and the issues that they dealt with, entwining art, culture, and social justice in her works.[2][9] Her first documentary Trefossa: I Am Not I (Trefossa: Mi a no mi, 2008) about the poet Henri Frans de Ziel won honorable mention in the 2009 Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival.[10][11] It also won the Public Award from the Africa in the Picture Film Festival in Amsterdam in 2010.[1] Her documentary Peace, Memories of Anton de Kom about Anton de Kom, the World War II resistance fighter and anti-colonialist, won best short film in 2012 at the Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival.[10] In 2017, Does was selected at the CaribbeanTales International Film Festival in Toronto as the "Best Woman of Color Creator" and honored with the CineFam Award, while her film, Amsterdam, Traces of Sugar received the Best Documentary Award.[12][9]

Works edit

  • 2008 Trefossa: Mi a no mi (Trefossa: I Am Not I).[1]
  • 2010 Portraits of Four Woman Artists of Aruba.[1]
  • 2012 Laga Bai.[1]
  • 2012 Peace: Memories of Anton de Kom.[1][11]
  • 2013 Poetry Is an Island: Derek Walcott.[1]
  • 2014 Sporen van Smaragd, Indisch erfgoed in Den Haag (Traces of Emerald, Indonesian heritage in The Hague).[1]
  • 2017 Amsterdam, Traces of Sugar.[12][9]

References edit

Citations edit

Bibliography edit

  • Deceuninck, Zoë (6 March 2020). "Arts en publicist Henry Does: 'Theo Para spreekt niet meer' – Parbode Sneak Peek" [Doctor and Publicist Henry Does: 'Theo Para No Longer Speaks' – Parbode Sneak Peek]. Parbode (in Dutch). Paramaribo, Suriname: Caribbean Media Groep. ISSN 1872-3292. Archived from the original on 6 September 2020. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  • Does-Chin-A-Loi, Ida (29 July 1995). "De weduwe van Frank Wijngaarde eist gerechtigheid" [Frank Wijngaarde's Widow Demands Justice]. Vrij Nederland (in Dutch). Amsterdam. Archived from the original on 6 September 2020. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  • Gordon, Zahra (18 April 2013). "New Documentary on Walcott in the Making". Trinidad and Tobago Guardian. Port of Spain, Trinidad. Archived from the original on 3 September 2020. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  • Ockhorst, Annika; Doelwijt, Thea (2012). Lachen, huilen, bevrijden: De weerspiegeling van de Surinaamse samenleving in het werk van het Doe-theater, 1970–1983 [Laugh, Cry, Liberate: The Reflection of Surinamese Society in the Work of the Doe Theater, 1970-1983] (in Dutch). Leiden, Netherlands: Brill Publishers. ISBN 978-90-04-24912-7.
  • Pietas Fides, Justitia (9 November 2013). "Geschiedenisvan Suriname. 1980: de staatsgreep" [History of Suriname, 1980: The Coup d'État]. Dagblad de West (in Dutch). No. 41890. Paramaribo, Suriname. p. 3. "Zaterdagochtend een DwT – essay van Henri Does alias Theo Para over Leo Morpurgo. Een excerpt uit het tijdschrift Mutyama van zijn echtgenote Ida Does – Chin A Loi, geeft alsnog in retrospectief deels het grootinterview uit 1992 weer." ["Saturday morning a DwT essay by Henri Does alias Theo Para about Leo Morpurgo. An excerpt from the magazine Mutyama by his wife Ida Does – Chin A Loi, partly reflects the large interview from 1992 in retrospective."]
  • Romero, Ivette (2016). "Does, Ida (1955– ), film director and journalist". In Knight, Franklin W.; Gates, Henry Louis Jr. (eds.). Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro–Latin American Biography. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-199-93580-2. – via Oxford University Press's Reference Online (subscription required)
  • Romero, Ivette (14 March 2014). "Ida Does: A Brief Interview with Repeating Islands". Repeating Islands. Poughkeepsie, New York. Archived from the original on 28 May 2016. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  • Wansink, Hans (12 August 1987). "'Wat Brinkman doet is kapitaalvernietiging' Didactica" ['What Brinkman Does Is Destruction of Capital', Didactics]. NRC Handelsblad (in Dutch). Amsterdam. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  • "Documentaire Anton de Kom wint juryprijs" [Documentary Anton de Kom Wins Jury Prize]. La Chispa (in Dutch). The Netherlands. De Ware Tijd. 2 October 2012. Archived from the original on 3 September 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  • "Filmmakers' Awards Crown A Stellar Festival Showcasing Caribbean Legacy Stories". Curaçao Chronicle. Willemstad, Curaçao. 2 October 2017. Archived from the original on 3 September 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  • "Lectura tocante Herencia Caribense na Hulanda y islanan ABC na Universidad di Aruba" [Lecture about the Caribbean Management by the Netherlands of the ABC Islands at the University of Aruba]. Diario (in Papiamento). Oranjestad, Aruba. 30 September 2018. Archived from the original on 2 October 2018. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  • "Sociaal werkster Ida Chin-A-Loi over hulp aan nabestaanden SLM-ramp: 'Voor velen moet de klap nog komen'" [Social Worker Ida Chin-A-Loi on Aid to Relatives for the SLM Disaster: "For many the blow is yet to come"]. Amigoe (in Dutch). Willemstad, Curaçao. 29 July 1989. p. 9. Retrieved 6 September 2020.