Niet uit het niets | Including aftertalk with director

Niet uit het niets is a documentary that forces us to reflect on what we as a society allow and what we want to change. With empathy, a sharp eye, and tenacity, Floor Foole and Marleen Kuijsters tell the story of two women who did not survive gender-based violence. In the film, two bereaved women, Juul Engel and Silvana van Ginneken, speak. Their loved ones were murdered by men who claimed them, controlled them, and slowly but surely isolated them from their lives, until the tragedy became inevitable.

This film emphasizes that femicide is not a one-off 'outburst', but a pattern of intimidating behavior that often persists for years. It reminds us that violence against women is not a private problem—it is a symptom of a deeply entrenched power structure in which women still have to fight for their dignity daily. Femicide does not come out of nowhere; it is the ultimate, devastating result of patriarchal norms that we as a society must address.