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Ellen Vermeulen
Ellen Vermeulen (b. 1982) is a filmmaker, researcher, and teacher. Her work is characterized by a critical gaze and an in-depth exploration of social structures. With 9999 (2014), she made a documentary about internment in the Merksplas prison that was even screened at the European Court of Human Rights. She shot Catch-19to25 (2016) at the Reno refugee platform, inspired by Hannah Arendt’s cog theory. And in Inclusive (2018), her film about children with special educational needs attending mainstream schools, she shows an equally systemic view. In her latest documentary Une femme qui part, Vermeulen focuses more than ever on an intimate and personal quest. She examines Marie-Louise Chapelle, the first French woman to climb an unclimbed mountain peak in the Himalayan mountains in 1952.
In 1952, Marie-Louise Chapelle was the first French woman to reach an unclimbed peak in the Himalayas. Years later, filmmaker Ellen Vermeulen follows in her footsteps. An intimate journey through snow landscapes in which personal ambitions, social constraints, and the complexity of being a woman take center stage.
A carefully made film, offering an intimate insight into the lives of Rosie, Sami, Irakli, and Nathan, four children with different educational needs who are going to regular schools.