Featuring artist Daiara Tukano, the documentary Uma Memória Emplumada / A Feathered Memory is the latest film by Surinamese Dutch journalist and filmmaker Ida Does. The film, which premiered at Filmhuis Den Haag on October 16, 2025, was met with a standing ovation. Here are excerpts from the official press release.
[. . .] The film follows Brazilian Indigenous artist and activist Daiara Tukano, who was invited to create a monumental mural at the Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague — an institution founded by Johan Maurits of Nassau, a 17th-century Dutch colonial governor in Brazil. Through her work, Daiara reclaims space for Indigenous voices and memory, connecting the colonial past with the present-day resistance and wisdom of the Indigenous peoples of the Amazon.
Alongside the creation of the mural, the film also tells the story of the Tupinambá feathered cloak, a sacred ceremonial object made of over 4,000 red ibis feathers. This spiritual treasure, long held in European collections, was recently returned to Brazil — a historic gesture of cultural repatriation and spiritual restoration.
A Feathered Memory is not only a film about art — it’s a film about the gaze: how representations of Black and Indigenous peoples have been shaped by colonial worldviews, and how artists and institutions today are actively reshaping that narrative.
The film is directed and produced by Ida Does, with cinematography by internationally acclaimed Director of Photography Milton Kam, known for his poetic visual style and long-standing engagement with Indigenous communities in South America.
The premiere was opened by Fernando Simas Magalhães, Ambassador of Brazil to the Netherlands, and Marlon Titre, Director of Filmhuis Den Haag. [. . .] The evening closed with a powerful and spontaneous vocal blessing, a traditional song offered by Indigenous representatives from Suriname, expressing spiritual solidarity between the peoples of the Amazon and the African diaspora. Diana Vlet, leader of Surinamese indigenous communities in The Netherlands, presented Ida Does with a recent academic publication on Indigenous slavery.
In her closing remarks, filmmaker Ida Does said, “Those who respect the earth, protect her. The defense of the earth is inseparable from the defense of human dignity.” [. . .]
A Feathered Memory was recently selected for the Black International Cinema Festival Berlin 2025 and had a private screening on Aruba during a masterclass on documentary storytelling given by the director. The film will be broadcast on Dutch national television (NPO) in the first quarter of 2026 as part of the arts program Het Uur van de Wolf. [. . .]
Watch trailer at https://vimeo.com/1131751990
For more information, see https://black-international-cinema.com/BIC25/home/cinema-rathaus-schoeneberg-city-hall-nov-21/ and https://www.facebook.com/ronald.snijders.3/posts/ida-does-nieuwste-film-uma-mem%C3%B3ria-emplumadaa-feathered-memoryonder-grote-belans/24814882831455127/
Also see www.idadoes.nl and https://www.idadoes.nl/bio/
[Detail of poster of Uma Memória Emplumada / A Feathered Memory, by Ida Does, featuringDaiara Tukano.]
Featuring artist Daiara Tukano, the documentary Uma Memória Emplumada / A Feathered Memory is the latest film by Surinamese Dutch journalist and filmmaker Ida Does. The film, which premiered at Filmhuis Den Haag on October 16, 2025, was met with a standing ovation. Here are excerpts from the official press release. [. . .] The