When Lidija Zelović fled the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina at the age of 22, she didn’t realize that she would henceforth be defined as a “refugee”. Nor that her life would then be spent shuttling between her birthplace and Amsterdam, between the past and the present, between being Lidija and being a foreigner. 

Zelović’s self-portrait captures this sense of duality by drawing on her immense reservoir of journal material that covers most of her adult life in the Netherlands. She alternates scenes from her domestic life—spending time with her parents and brother who came with her, and chatting with her son—with  Dutch political events such as the murder of the  politician Pim Fortuyn, the childcare benefit scandal, and the PVV election victory in 2024. Across three decades we see the Netherlands transformed into a country with a radical right-wing government. Zelović combines journal extracts, news footage, and other archive material to offer a deeply personal glimpse into her life. 

At the same time her observations from the perspective of an “eternal outsider” also act as a mirror to Dutch society.

With Q&A Friday, November 22, 8:45 p.m.

After the film, director Lidija Zelovic will be present for an Q&A. René Duursma, Image and Sound coordinator and AV collection manager at the Groninger Archives, is moderator.