In My Father's House

One woman's refusal to repeat her mother's fate

In My Father's House is an acclaimed 1997 biography documentary from the Netherlands that turns the camera inward, using one filmmaker's most private history to interrogate the weight of tradition, patriarchal authority and the cost of breaking free from both.

What In My Father's House is about

Fatima Jebli Ouazzani emigrated from Morocco to the Netherlands as a child. When her father repudiated her mother and married a 17-year-old woman in her place, Ouazzani resolved she would not share that fate: she left the family home as a teenager, refusing an arranged marriage. Years later, unmarried and childless, she returns to Morocco to face the figure of her father and the women whose lives shaped her, including her grandmother, who was herself forced to marry against her will. Running in parallel is the story of Naima, a Dutch-born woman of Moroccan heritage who has chosen a fully traditional marriage, complete with the ritual presentation of bloodstained sheets as proof of virginity. The film blends direct interviews, candid family conversations and dreamlike staged reconstructions of Ouazzani's childhood to explore women's status within Islamic marriage tradition.

Director: Fatima Jebli Ouazzani

Fatima Jebli Ouazzani wrote and directed the film, and appears in it as herself. Raised in the Netherlands after emigrating from Morocco, she worked in Dutch radio and television before turning to documentary filmmaking. In My Father's House was her debut feature and drew on her own biography, combining staged sequences, diary-style reflection and observational footage to build what critics described as a poetic and emotionally clear work. The film received theatrical and television runs in the Netherlands and went on to an international festival circuit.

Awards and festival run

In My Father's House won the Golden Spire Award for First Person Documentary at the San Francisco International Film Festival and the Best International Documentary prize at Hot Docs. It was also selected for IDFA, the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, the Rotterdam International Film Festival and the Sydney Film Festival, confirming its standing as one of the most recognised documentary debuts of the late 1990s.

Setting and cultural context

The film moves between the Netherlands, where Ouazzani grew up and where Naima lives, and rural Morocco, where Naima's wedding is held and where Ouazzani returns to interview her grandparents. This dual geography is central to the film's argument: Moroccan marriage traditions persist and evolve across generations and across borders, shaping women's lives whether they stay or leave. As a family documentary, it situates intimate personal memory within a broader social and religious framework.

Where to watch In My Father's House online

In My Father's House is available to stream on GuideDoc. GuideDoc is a curated documentary platform dedicated to independent and international non-fiction film. You can watch it alongside related titles such as At the Feet of My Mother and Non Western, all of which explore family, identity and cultural belonging.