Tilburgse Sterke Vrouwen

On Sunday, January 18 at 1:30 PM, the documentary Tilburg Strong Women will premiere at Cinecitta. This 55-minute documentary highlights the contributions made by ten women from Tilburg to the social, economic, cultural, and societal development of the city between 1945 and 1995. The documentary was created by Caroline Evers, Stijn van der Loo, and Paul Spapens. Caroline Evers was responsible for camera, sound, research, and direction; Paul Spapens conducted interviews and research; and Stijn van der Loo handled the editing. He also composed the music especially for this documentary, performed by the accordion duo Toeac (Renée Bekkers and Pieternel Berkers). For the makers, Tilburg Strong Women is the fifth documentary they have produced together on specific Tilburg themes. Cinecitta previously screened their documentaries about the liberation of Tilburg; Tilburg and its slavery past; how Tilburg weathered the COVID period through social projects; and Tilburg Wereldstad, about the international character of the city with its 148 nationalities. Screenings of these documentaries (“Four Times Tilburg on Film”) at Cinecitta were a great success. The documentary premiering on January 18 is part of the exhibition Tilburg Stands Up, which runs until June 2026 at the Peerke Donders Pavilion. This exhibition tells the story of how Tilburg developed after the war into the city it is today. Strong Tilburg women take center stage in the exhibition, and several of them appear in the documentary. These include politician Miet van Puijenbroek; Bertje Eijgenraam, the social worker of Koningswei; Suriname-born Carla van Bijnen-Strok; and Moroccan-Dutch Zahra Bouchlal Elbazazz. Also featured are resistance heroine Antoinetta Wouters; Snježana Matijević, who was born in Yugoslavia and founded the Center for Foreign Women in Tilburg; and Will van Bienen-Mommers, who lived the life of a woman in the textile city of Tilburg. Finally, Wil Onderdenwijngaard, Kiek Boelaars, and Mo van Bavel — all of whom played major roles in the women’s movement in Tilburg from the 1970s onward.