Netherlands

Hillie Molenaar, born in 1945 in the Netherlands, is a documentary filmmaker. She left school at 15 and worked as a cleaner, waitress, and bookkeeper before finding her niche as a documentary filmmaker in 1974 when, at the age of 29, she made her first film Protest Garden. She was the assistant to the legendary Joris Ivens before she formed Molenwiek Film in Amsterdam with Joop van Wijk in 1978. Jointly they have produced and directed many award winning documentaries and short films, including The Factory (1979) and The Daily Nation (2000). They also produced Xime (Guinea-Bissau, 1994) directed by Sana Na N’Hada, which was an official selection at Cannes Film Festival in Un Certain Regard. Molenaar has since formed her own production company HM Films in 1995, and has taught with the Zelig School for Documentary, Television and New Media. She is also an Election Observer (EU & OSCE long and short time) in Bangladesh, Georgia, Pakistan, Aceh, Yemen, Ethiopia, Bela Russia, Ukraine, Indonesia, Rwanda, Moldavia, Ukraine, Sri Lanka, Zambia, Uganda, Rotterdam (recount), Russia (Siberia) and was Member of The Dutch House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer) The Netherlands from 2000 - 2002.

Filmography

Protest Garden (1974)
Abortus doe je niet zomaar (1975)
Abortus, van breinaald tot politiek steekspel (1978)
The Factory (1979)
Dochters van de Nijl (1982)
Alter Ego, Brieven van een dokter in Africa (1986)
Cannot Run Away (1988)
Journey on the Bamako-Dakar (1989)
Change (1990)
Isingiro Hospital (1993)
Enigma, gedachten van een grootmeester (1993)
Crossroads (1997)
The Daily Nation (2000)