Giedrė Žickytė: Both of Your Mothers

This is a copy paste of an article in FilmNewEurope of today:

VILNIUS: Lithuanian director/writer/producer Giedrė Žickytė is currently in postproduction with her long documentary Both of Your Mothers, which is a Lithuanian/Estonian/Bulgarian coproduction.

The film follows the last years of professor Irena Veisaite’s life. A distinguished Germanist and theatre scholar, Irena, now in her 90s, is unapologetically modern, inspiring, building bridges between people of different ages, religions and nationalities. Her home is always full of different people and languages. Both of Your Mothers challenges viewers to reflect on the enduring impact of war, the strength found in love and the potential for positive change even in the darkest moments of history. The narrative weaves together personal stories and historical events, honouring Irena’s legacy as a beacon of hope and a staunch advocate for understanding amidst the chaos of the past and present.

“Irena was my friend despite the 52 years age gap. I was inspired by her unbreakable spirit and exceptional humanity. I was trying to understand how she could stay after surviving and witnessing such crimes, where the surroundings constantly reminded her of past horrors. Why did she decide to stay here and, most importantly, to forgive the past? How she, having lived through two horrible realities, Nazi and Stalinist, did not lose her love for people? Unfortunately, and sadly, Irena passed away during the film’s production. This film is going to be my farewell letter for Irena, for the woman who deeply affected me with her empathy, irrepressible intellectual curiosity, commitment to understanding the other and a vigorously open mind”, Giedrė Žickytė told FNE.

Both of Your Mothers is produced by Giedrė Žickytė through Lithuanian Moonmakers and coproduced by Pille Rünk through Estonian Allfilm and Martichka Bozhilova through Bulgarian Agitprop.

The project is supported by the Lithuanian Film Centre, Eurimages, Creative Europe MEDIA, the Estonian Film Institute, the Bulgarian National Film Center, Vilnius Goethe Institute, the Estonian Cultural Endowment and the Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT).

The film was shot in Lithuania, Estonia and Poland during 2020-2023, and it will be completed and released in 2024.

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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