Familia

Colour, HD CAM
Sweden, 2010, 82 min
Section: Documentary Films in Competition

Synopsis

The main characters of Mikael Wiström and Alberto Herskovits’s documentary are the members of a poor Peruvian family. Even though they no longer have to live in a temporary wooden dwelling right next to the dump, and father Daniel goes out to work every day to earn a living on his mototaxi, there still isn’t enough money to pay for a quality school for their eight-year-old boy. That’s why 55-year-old mother Naty decides to leave for Spain to find work, thereby ensuring a better future for her family. A film of high sensitivity, it develops the double plot line of Naty’s lonely life in unknown surroundings as a hotel maid and the life of the family she left behind. The filmmakers succeeded in thoroughly drawing out the individual family members, and the result is an unostentatious portrait which convincingly depicts the full range of their emotions. Subtle music and outstanding camerawork add to the film’s emotional power, as do aptly incorporated black-and-white snapshots from their family album. The film took Best Swedish Documentary at this year’s Göteborg IFF.

About the director

Mikael Wiström graduated from the University College of Film, Radio, Television, and Theater (Dramatiska Institutet) in 1981 and since then he has been producing and directing documentaries. He collaborates with Sweden’s SVT television station and with foreign stations as well. He is the creator of the acclaimed documentaries The Other Shore (1993) and Compadre (2004). Alberto Herskovits was born in Argentina and grew up in Germany. He studied film at universities in Germany and the USA, and since 1990 he has been working in Sweden as a documentary director and cameraman. He has produced and directed numerous documentaries about Sweden as well as international topics. Familia, directed by both filmmakers, took Best Documentary at this year’s Göteborg festival.