107 Mothers / Cenzorka
Slovakia, Czech Republic, Ukraine 2021
Directed by Peter Kerekes, drama, 93 min, eng subtitles, 16+
Written by Ivan Ostrochovský, Peter Kerekes
With Iryna Kiryazeva, Lyubov Vasylyna, Maryna Klimova
Lesya, a young Ukrainian woman, has just given birth in prison to her first child. Because she committed a crime of passion, she got a seven-year sentence in a women’s correctional facility in Odessa. The women prisoners can keep their children for just three years before they must either go to an orphanage or be adopted. Lesya must find a solution. 107 Mothers uniquely blends real-life cases with fiction. Meticulously researched, filmed over a period of five years, and tremendously well-crafted, the film documents the everyday life and routines of the inmates, wards, nurses and children in the bleak and claustrophobic world, while touching on nothing less than a universal story of motherhood and redemption.
Awards:
Venice FF 2021 (Venice Horizons Award for the Best Screenplay)
Chicago IFF 2021 (Silver Hugo for the Best Director)
Cottbus Film Festival of Young East European Cinema 2021 (Main Prize for Best Film)