New to VOD this week:
TOTO AND HIS SISTERS
Director:
Alexander Nanau
Premiere:
San Sebastian 2014
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Tribeca, Transilvania, Sarajevo, Camden, Flahertiana, Yamagata Doc, DOK.fest Munich, Dok Leipzig, Zurich, Warsaw, Stockholm, Vilnius
About:
In Bucharest, a pre-teen and his sisters cope with their mother’s imprisonment for drugs.
Taking a strictly observational approach, Nanau provides viewers with a remarkably intimate look at the lives of Roma siblings Toto (10), Andreea (14), and Ana (17). Though theoretically in the care of their uncles, the latter’s drug use has meant that the trio basically have been forced to raise themselves while their mother is serving out a seven-year drug sentence. Over the months covered in the film, young Toto seeks some sense of joy in an otherwise harrowing environment through his love of hip-hop dance, while middle sister Andreea takes up the slack in keeping him safe after eldest Ana seems fated to continue the dead end cycle of drugs. While never sugar-coating the bleak circumstances of this marginalized family, this exceptionally crafted film nevertheless is well able to demonstrate the younger children’s amazing resilience despite the uncertainty of their futures.
what (not) to doc 