Hristina is invisible. Quiet and discreet, she cleans people’s houses. Every day in a different house, every day doing the same job. Hristina is Bulgarian and lives in Amsterdam. She communicates with her employers through brief written messages. To come to terms with her own life, Hristina takes photographs of “her” houses. The director Suzanne Raes portrays one of the people whom we allow to enter the most intimate place in our life. However, who are those people cleaning our houses? Do we really want to know?
Suzanne Raes has directed several films on Dutch society, such as “Hoe meer zieken, hoe meer winst” (2003), “Na de vogelpest” (2003), “Joëlle” (2004), “Pijn” (2005) and “Erfgenaam van Elsschot” (2006). “The House of Hristina” was projected at the 2007 International Documentary Film Festival and received several reviews on the Dutch and international press. Following this experience and thanks to the support of IDTV and Human Television, Suzanne founded a group for illegal immigrant artists, “Art 2 Stay. Work and stories of ‘illegal’ artists” (www.art2stay.nl, located in Amsterdam).