Still: The Invisible Woman - Tamara Shogaolu

Blending opera, cinematic animation, puppetry and immersive technology, The Invisible Woman unfolds across fantastical worlds where history, memory and myth collide. The story follows Idil, a contemporary Somali-Dutch journalist who begins to disappear and journeys into the Land of the Forgotten, where she encounters Francisca van Angola, a real woman from 17th-century Amsterdam at risk of being erased from memory forever.

Through VR and an evolving live production featuring operatic voices, Afro-diasporic music and projection-mapped landscapes, Amsterdam-based Emmy award-winning artist and filmmaker Tamara Shogaolu invites audiences to step inside the story and become part of the act of remembering.

When, six years ago, Shogaolu was told the story of Francisca de Angola by journalist and researcher Ayaan Abukar, she was immediately captivated. Francisca had been part of a Black immigrant community in Amsterdam in the 1630s.

“Here in the Netherlands and in Europe in general, a lot of conversation goes on around immigration issues and who is ‘European’ and who is not,” the director says.

“Often, it is people of colour who are never ‘European.’ People of colour and migrant backgrounds are still made to feel they do not belong today, despite having been part of Dutch society and shaping the Netherlands for centuries. That resonates with me in my own experience.”

Now, Shogaolu has made The Invisible Woman, which she terms a “multi-platform opera experience,” about Francisca, encompassing “a larger artistic world connecting interactive VR, original opera, stop-motion-inspired animation and puppetry, and an immersive live production.” The project is a co-production between Shogaolu’s Ado Ato Pictures and the Dutch National Opera - Studio Boekman, and world premieres in the Doc Lab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction at IDFA.

The director argues that “the same thing that happened to this woman and this community 400 years ago is still happening today.”

A document from 1632 exists in which a sugar trader vilifies Francisca, claiming she is a witch with magical powers to control the minds of “all Black people.” Shogaolu interprets this as evidence that Francisca, who ran a boarding house for sailors, was “a woman of influence and power.” Other archive material reveals that she witnessed marriages and divorces which, for the director, proves she was an active part of this growing Black community in Amsterdam.

Shogaolu acknowledges historian Mark Ponte of the Amsterdam City Archives, whose extensive research on seventeenth-century migrant and Black communities has informed the project.

Francisca lived close to where the Dutch National Opera is situated today - one reason why Shogaolu has made opera an important part of the project.

“I thought it would make a great opera and I wanted to lean into that. I think that music is often how we pass on memory. I find it interesting that with opera, you are often replaying music from 400 years ago. Music is also a way that people in the African diaspora have stayed connected and communicated their stories.”

Shogaolu’s background is in animation and puppetry. She tells SEE NL how, living in Indonesia, she was struck by how puppetry can “preserve and transmit cultural memory.” She further underlines that, for the film, “I wanted to make these forgotten presences tangible through stop-motion-inspired figures and puppetry.” Tony award-winning American actress Adriane Lenox narrates while Carla Nahadi Babelegoto voices Francesca in the VR, and Netherlands-based US soprano Claron McFadden gives voice to the character of Idil.

The Invisible Woman, which was made through the director’s company Ado Ato Pictures, was tough to finance. The Immersive/Interactive support from the Netherlands Film Fund and Creative Industries Fund NL enabled development of the VR work first. Support from AGOG also helped the project to develop. The larger live-stage adaptation came next, but financing that next phase has been more “challenging,” says Shogaolu, with a lot of funding bodies in the Netherlands questioning its Dutchness. “This led me to create a Kickstarter which is what is making the live presentation possible,” she enthuses. “The Lincoln Center residency supports its further artistic development.”

Audiences at IDFA will see The Invisible Woman as a VR work. The director is also working on her distinct live immersive opera, which will be performed as a work-in-progress at the National Opera and Ballet on November 15.

Shogaolu hopes both the VR and the live pieces will engage audiences and stimulate debate.

“People will have to physically come together to engage and have conversations with one another. That is my hope with everything that I make - that it leads to conversations and brings people together in real world spaces.”

She has already organised a pre-launch event with a sold-out Amsterdam Dance Event to try to get younger audiences interested in opera. In June 2027, she will hold another work-in-progress staging of the live event at the Lincoln Center in New York.

“The ambition is to tour the live immersive opera with performing-arts venues and opera houses, while the VR/installation format can have a separate life in museums and cultural spaces.”

And, yes, Shogaolu’s sincere hope is that The Invisible Woman will eventually become a fully-fledged opera. “My dream is for people to experience [it] at IDFA and see the potential for something truly extraordinary. This is a Dutch story, but it's also a universal one, about the people who helped build our societies and whose contributions have been and continue to be unacknowledged. I hope we can bring together the support and partners to realize the full opera and share this story with audiences around the world.”

Find out more about IDFA here.