>>> CELEBRATION OF LIVE (Latvia)
CELEBRATION OF LIFE is a psychological drama in which a young woman, HELENA, makes peace with her estranged mother, albeit after her mother’s death. The story involves the history of the Baltic States in the latter half of the 20th century – a period of time that has seriously influenced several generations of people. Now, in order to carry on, the gap between the past and the future must be filled with understanding.
HELENA (30) is a creative director in a big advertising company. She is very well off, living together with her boyfriend UGA (34), the host of a popular TV show. Helena and Uga are soon to be married, an event that will solidify her position in the ad company, since Uga’s father owns it. The only dark spot in Helena’s perfect life is everything connected with her parents. Helena has never known who her father was and can’t forgive her mother ELEONORA for giving her away as a child. Eleonora tried to explain things to her daughter, but Helena would never believe her appallingly dramatic stories. Her resentment was so intense that Helena made up her own story, telling everyone that her mother and father had died many years ago.
The problem starts a couple of weeks before Helena’s wedding, when her fiancé UGA gets an invitation to Eleonora’s funeral. Having been told that Eleonora died years ago, Uga asks Helena if there are any secrets he should know before their marriage. Helena denies anything. She cannot imagine that Uga might know anything about her mother. Uga is disappointed with Helena’s duplicity and starts having second thoughts about the wedding. The marriage, so important for Helena’s career, is under threat.
Having kept the funeral a secret, Helena goes to the service by herself but is surprised to find a number of strangers in attendance. It turns out that Eleonora had asked the local priest to invite these people to her funeral before her death. Helena is even more shocked when, just before leaving the cemetery, she realizes that Uga is there as well. Before she can confront him, he disappears. Even calls to his mobile don’t work - he has switched it off. The local priest gives Helena a letter that Eleonora left for her. The letter apologizes for the distance between mother and daughter and says that if Helena really wants to know the identity of her father, she should contact the people listed in the letter. Angry that her mother still wouldn’t come out and just say who her father is, Helena almost destroys the letter. But she thinks better of it and decides to follow the clues after all. Helena sets off on a journey to discover the origins of her own existence and the truth of her mother’s past.
As she interviews people on Eleonora’s list, Helena comes to realize what a truly extraordinary life her mother led. Eleonora had been caught in the whirlwind of history while conducting a search of her own – trying to find her fiancée HUGO, who was missing in action during the Second World War. Eleonora travelled to Germany to look for him – nearly died of starvation and was trapped in a brothel for a time. Later she worked as a nurse in a military hospital, all in hopes of finding her Hugo. Later, at the end of the war, the Soviets accused her of having been a collaborator and sent her to Siberia. Eleonora nearly died there and when she finally returned home to Soviet Latvia, she was labeled “an enemy of the nation” and forced to live as a washerwoman in a remote country village.
Helena learns of her mother’s experiences as if she had lived them herself (both Helena and Eleonora are played by the same actress) and she undergoes a roller coaster of emotions, from complete disbelief to tears and understanding. Helena even gets to know who her father is. And it seems that Eleonora was right not to tell her who he was. Understanding comes late for Helena, but perhaps not too late. The perfect marriage between Uga and Helena may not happen, but life has a way of bringing about its own corrections.
Antra Cilinska
Film director, producer and editor. Since 1994 Antra is Managing Director of Juris Podnieks Studio.
She is a producer of The Naivists (best documentary in Latvia in 1993), series of documentaries (6x30) Beyond Red for BBC with TVE (UK) and Accursed Town for Channel 4.
Antra directed and produced Unfinished Business, film in memory of Juris Podnieks, for Channel 4 (award in Anthropological Film Festival in Parnu), Anatomy of A Provokation , Girls from Chaka Street for TVE (UK), Is It Easy To Be…? for Channel 4 (UK)(Prize in Leipzig Film Festival, FIPRESSI prize, nominated for Prix Europa), Where Does It All Begin? (documentary about an outstanding Latvian artist I.Blumbergs) she also directed short "Time For Bed", winner's prize at the Northern Lights Festival (UK) and produced documentary "Dina", nominated for the
best documentary in Latvia.
