My Mother's Farm (Min Mammas gård)

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My Mother's Farm
Original title	Min Mammas gård
Type	Documentaries
Director	Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen
Short summary	A portrait of a strong woman from a weak part of eastern Europe. The director tells the story of her mothers life and work in the new post Sovjet country. Tale Kalnas life is documented with the historical changes in Latvia as a background. This close and personal film uses footage from the founding of the farm in 1991 until closing down in 2007. A generation portrait from the little known new EU.
Summary	Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen tells the story of her mothers life and work in a new land built after the collapse of the USSR. The historical changes in Latvia are told through this close portrait, including film material from 1991 until today. The film is a personal story about a whole generation Latvians, Balts and eastern Europeans experiencing the same as Tale Kalna. The big changes in their home country has brought about great challenges in their lives. "My mother is strong and wise, she doesn’t let failures get to her personality, and I admire her. She was born in 1947, and her best years she lived in the stagnated Soviet Union. Then came Gorbatsjov and Perestroika. Mamma started her own farm, it was a historical act, the start of the break up of the communist system. For her it was personal. Her generations dream was to once again own their own land". "But economics soon showed the tough side of the new freedom. The free market meant heavy changes of daily life for elderly people in the whole of Eastern Europe - also my mother. In the film we also meet two of her neighbours - from work in communistic collective farms to catastrophic poverty - or to big business in 2007. I have been filming Mamma at her farm for the last 17 years – as long as I’ve lived in Norway. After Latvia joined the EU my Mother had to sell her land. But she refused to give up - wanting to change life in the countryside to the better".
Screenplay	Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen
D.O.P	Trond Jacobsen, Agris Birzulis, Viktors Gribermanis, Haralds Vecvagars
Editor	Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen, Trond Jacobsen
Sound	Halstein Larsen
Producer	Trond Jacobsen
Production company	Bivrost film & tv as \| Gyldenlövesgate 11 \| N-3117 Tønsberg \| tel (+47) 33 31 52 48 \| e-mail: trond (at) bivrostfilm.no
Co-producer	Guntis Trekteris, Ego Media SIA, Latvia
Country of origin	Norway
Release date (international)	2008-11
Technical information
Format	DIGIBETA
Colour	Colour
Length in min's	55
International sales	Nordic World - www.nordicworld.tv/
Festival participation	2008 International Documentary Festival Amsterdam 2009 Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival 2009 Den norske dokumentarfilmfestivalen, Volda 2009 Doxa Documentary Film Festival, Vancouver 2009 Beeld for Beeld, Amsterdam 2009 GuthGAFA Documentary Film Festival, Ireland 2009 Nordische Filmtage Lübeck, Germany 2009 Global Visions Film Festival, Edmonton, Canada 2009 Art of the Document, Warsawa 2009 Black Nights Film Festival, Estonia 2009 Watch Docs, Poland 2010 Salt Spring Island Film Festival, Canada
Prizes received	2009: Latvian National Film Award Lielais Kristaps for Best Documentary 2009 Art of the Document, Warsawa: The 1st Prize of the Future of Media
URL	http://www.bivrostfilm.com

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Director biography:
Director Ilse B. Jacobsen Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen (36) moved from Latvia to Norway in 1991. She studied TV directing at Lillehammer University College. She works as a director focusing on author driven documentaries. Her debut film, The Class Photography, found an international audience, and her last film,My Mothers Farm, was selected for the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam in 2008.

Filmography:
2008: My Mothers Farm | Solvang News
2005: Boys on the Bridge
2004: The Scar from Norway
2001: The Class Photography