Antonia

Polished family chronicle about the vicissitudes of an independent woman and her eccentric female descendants. Just before her death, the 90-year old Antonia looks back on the time just after World War II when she returned to her home village for good. She reflects on fifty years in a small rural community. With her teenage daughter, Antonia settles in the old farmhouse of her recently-deceased mother and, as the years pass, forms the hub of a colourful commune. As the cycle of birth and death repeats itself, the woman farmer maintains her idiosyncratic and altruistic lifestyle. In the end she dies, surrounded by those dear to her, in the knowledge that nothing is complete as the long chronicle draws to a close. Awarded with the 1995 Golden Calves for Best Director and Best Actress (Willeke van Ammelrooy), and winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film in 1996.