Hungary, Germany

A WOMAN CAPTURED is about Marish, a 52-year-old Hungarian woman, who has been serving a family for a decade, working 20 hours a day –without getting paid. Her ID was taken from her by her oppressors and she's not allowed to leave the house without permission. Treated like an animal, she only gets leftovers to eat and no bed to sleep in.
Marish spends the days with fear in her heart, but dreaming of getting her life back.
The presence of the camera helps her realise she isn’t completely alone. She begins to show signs of trust; after 2 years of shooting, she gathers her courage and reveals her plan: “I am going to escape.”

The film follows Marish’s heroic journey back to freedom.

Written & directed by: Bernadett Tuza-Ritter
Produced by: Julianna Ugrin, Viki Réka Kiss
Cinematography: Bernadett Tuza-Ritter
Editing: Bernadett Tuza-Ritter
Sound: Márton Kristóf, Tamás Bohács
Original Score: Csaba Kalotás

Director's Statement:
A SOCIAL ISSUE
Modern slavery occurs "when a person is under control of another person, who applies violence and force to maintain that control, and the goal of that control is exploitation" - Kevin Bales, co-founder and former president of Free the Slaves

The 2016 Global Slavery Index estimates that 45.8 million people are subject to some form of modern slavery in the world today, 1.2 million of them in Europe. This includes forced labor and domestic servitude as well as prostitution.

THE FILM
A WOMAN CAPTURED follows a few years of woman’s life, who has been kept by a family as a domestic slave for 10 years - in the form of an observational, feature length documentary. It was shot almost entirely inside the house where she was a captive.

UNIQUE ACCESS
I met a woman called Eta, who was proud of having servants. I couldn’t forget one of her servants’ face - Marish: a woman who was only around 50 years old, but looked like she was 70. A few years later I had to make a short documentary at the university about “A day of a person” and I called Eta if I could go to her house and shoot with Marish. She said yes. That time I didn’t realise that I entered a house where modern day slavery was happening, as I didn’t really understand the phenomenon.

INSIDE THE HOUSE
In the beginning everyone was nice to me. It became suspicious gradually: signs of aggression and lies appeared, and Marish had to ask Eta’s permission for everything… I slowly realised that I was dealing with petty criminals. Marish asked me not to call the police, because it would have only brought her more trouble: the police in Hungary cannot offer any help or protection (neither physical nor legal) for victims like her. I had no choice but keep going back to her - so I asked for more time to shoot, but eventually I had to pay Eta cash to do that.
I tell the story from the inside. Even though it was the most unpleasant and frightening shooting, I am honoured that I got to know Marish and that a person in distress trusted me to present her fight for dignity. I believe it will help the audience to understand the concept of domestic slavery and that my film will serve as an eye-opener to this serious social problem.

THE MESSAGE
This film, I believe, will confront Western audiences with something very uncomfortable: the fact that slavery is happening in their own surroundings. It is not just a third world problem. It’s everywhere. The location where I shot was not hidden or on the periphery of civilisation - it was in the middle of Europe.
I want to show this story, raise awareness to the problem and start a wider conversation on it. I am from a country in the EU where most people have not even heard about this issue, and there are barely any governmental or non-governmental organisations that even remotely try to deal with it.

ARTISTIC APPROACH
My objective was to bring the viewer close to the main character’s feelings and to her stifling circumstances. The camera focuses on the atmosphere and her emotional state - to understand how years of inhumane treatment can transfer the victims to a psychological prison.
The slave-keeper family remains anonymous throughout the film, parts of their bodies, their shadows, voices and the objects they are surrounded by are the only indicators of who they are and where they live. My goal was to make the story universal - this issue exists all over the world.

THE OUTCOME
The story of Marish paints an unsettling picture of a society unsure of its values, where human dignity can easily become a commodity, but it also gives us hope in the way that it shows that the attention humans may pay to each other can save lives. Most of all, A WOMEN CAPTURED is the story of empowerment, of a woman who takes a risk, escapes and rises above the horrible things that were done to her.

World Sales:
Syndicado Film Sales
www.syndicado.com