Documentary: 'Zeemansvrouwen, een soort vrijheid'
The Maritime Museum opened the exhibition Maritime Women in October 2025, highlighting the role of women in the past and present. A role that is often overlooked, yet deeply influential in the nautical world. Documentary filmmaker Helge Prinsen created this compelling film on the subject, which premiered at Film by the Sea. In it, three seamen’s wives share an engaging and candid perspective on their emancipated lives in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. The film is screening at Kino Rotterdam.
A unique maritime time capsule in which three seamen’s wives, aged between 86 and 94, speak candidly about their lives. They raised children, managed the household and finances, bought houses and made major decisions without consulting their seafaring husbands. In a period still defined by strict gender roles, they experienced a remarkable degree of autonomy.
Their stories, laced with humour and perspective, are complemented by rare archival footage, 8mm films and excerpts from letters written by a seaman’s wife to her husband. The documentary takes viewers into their lives at home, the lives of the men aboard Dutch merchant ships and in distant ports. Mass tourism did not yet exist, yet these women regularly travelled with their husbands, seeing more of the world than many of their contemporaries. Still, their freedom came at a price. Zeemansvrouwen, een soort vrijheid paints a portrait of an unfamiliar and nearly forgotten world.
This film is screening at Kino, not at the Maritime Museum!
Watch the trailer:
Documentary at Kino Rotterdam
This film is exclusively screening at the Rotterdam cinema Kino. Tickets can only be booked through their website.
More information & tickets