"Alexandrinke" is the name for women from the Littoral part of Slovenia who emigrated en masse to Alexandria (Egypt) between 1869 and WWII, to work as wet nurses, nannies, maids, or consorts to wealthy Alexandrians. Although emigration was common among Slovenes throughout that period and beyond, the Alexandrian emigration is unique as it involved women and in many cases young mothers, who left behind their own to take care of other people’s children. This documentary is the most ambitiously conceived examination of this phenomenon to date. It took the director more than two years to collect the historical material and track down the stories of a wide range of people involved: from Aleksandrinke themselves (of which only three are still alive), their children and relatives, to some prominent people from several countries who received these women’s tender care. |