Mata Hari Film

“She is still an example for many women today” Haarlem 105.nl, Nov. 3 2020

The American-Dutch documentary / feature film ‘Mata Hari, The Naked Spy’, made by the Haarlem filmmaker Machiel Amorison and the American filmmaker Susan Wolf, premiered online. The intention was that the film would be shown in various Dutch cinemas around this time, but the corona pandemic prevented that. Via the internet people can now watch the life story of the Dutch dancer and prostitute, who was shot in France in 1917 because the French suspected her of espionage during the First World War.

Special personality

The idea for the film came from Amorison. For years he had been fascinated by the person Mata Hari, who was born in Leeuwarden in 1876 as Margaretha Zelle. Amorison’s great-great-grandmother was in Mata Hari’s class, he tells Haarlem105. “The stories had circulated in the family for years. As a child, Mata Hari was shown to be notable for her different clothing and extraordinarily charismatic behavior. So she was a special personality from the start. ”

“Mata Hari was the most famous dancer in Europe for seven years”

Haarlems Weekblad, Nov. 3, 2020

HAARLEM The American-Dutch documentary ‘Mata Hari, The Naked Spy’, which was to be screened in Dutch cinemas this year, will now have its Dutch premiere online because of Corona. The film by the Haarlem filmmaker Machiel Amorison and the American filmmaker Susan Wolf, who together were responsible for the direction and production, can be downloaded and streamed from November via the website www.mataharithenakedspy.com .

NEW LOOK AT LIFE The idea for the film comes from the Haarlem filmmaker Machiel Amorison. For years he has been mesmerized by the figure of Margaretha Zelle (Mata Hari), who was told at birthdays that she had been in the class of his great-grandmother in Leeuwarden. The film was made in 2017, one hundred years after Mata Hari’s death, when personal letters from the beginning of the last century and war documents from 1917 became available that gave a new perspective on her life. Amorison: “When she wrote those letters around 1903 and 1904, she was in the middle of a divorce and was in danger of losing her daughter Non, after her son Norman had died a few years earlier. The letters tell the story of a troubled mother, even before she became known as a dancer and spy. ” Read More

Film by Haarlem Filmmaker about Mata Hari Premiered

“She is still an example for many women today” Haarlem 105.nl, Nov. 3 2020

Haarlem Filmmaker Exposes Secrets of Mata Hari

Haarlems Weekblad, Nov. 3, 2020