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English Titles M

Mother of Mine

Original title: Äideistä parhain
German title: Beste Mutter
Finland, 2005

Director: Härö, Klaus
Production company: MRP Matila Röhr Productions
Age recommendation: 10 years and up

Synopsis:
Following Erja Dammert’s documentary “War Children” (Sotalapset, NFL 2004) there is now a feature film about the fate of World War Two’s 70,000 child evacuees from war-torn Finland to Sweden. 9-year-old Eero is one of them. When his father falls at the front, his mother sends him to the neutral neighbouring country, where he is taken in by a farming couple. Eero, who speaks no Swedish, feels utterly forlorn. His foster mother Signe seems harsh and dismissive. He misses his real mother, but the letters she writes are never addressed to him, but always to Signe. When Eero learns that his mother intends to follow her new lover, a German officer, to his homeland, he does all he can to win Signe’s affection. Gradually, Signe, who lost her own child years ago, begins to open up towards the boy. Director Klaus Härö sensitively portrays the emotional hardship of a child in wartime – and, seen in retrospect by grown-up Eero, the trauma of an adult who had no “proper” mother. Or perhaps had two of them?

Comments:
"In a subtle and thoughtful way the film observes the choices a child has to take as a refugee in the middle of war. The film brings together the historical, ethical, individual and artistic dimensions of Nordic culture." Jury's Statement Nordic Filmday Luebeck 2005

Director’s statement
The film centers on a young Finnish boy’s relationship to his two mothers. One brought him into the world and the other taught him to live in it. The question is: which one of them should be seen as Eero’s real mother? Both mothers loved the same child and made some tough choices, with fateful consequences reaching far into his adult life. […] The objective was to make an emotionally strong and visually appealing film on the fate of one individual war child. The contrast between the warring world and the experiences of a little boy is a compelling starting point for telling a touching story”.

Festivals:
Helsinki 2005, Luebeck 2005 (awarded), BUFF Malmö 2006, Kristiansand 2006, Giffoni 2006 (awarded), Filmak Dobrany 2006 (awarded), Ale Kino Poznan 2006, Vilnius 2007

Website: www.motherofmine.com

World sales address/es:
TrustNordisk Int. Sales (DK)