Liebe Oma, Guten Tag! (2017)

	Also Known As: What we leave behind
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Jurate and Vilma Samulionyte
	Actors: -
	Country: LT, D
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 03.11.2017, CineStar6, NFDL2017, Lithuanian/German with English subtitle
Synopsis: A filmmaker Jurate and a photographer Vilma start a search for clues to reconstruct their grandmother’s life. Her story is like something out of a period drama, yet it’s all real. After the war, Ella returned to Lithuania to wait for her fiancé. Then the iron curtain separated her from the rest of her family, and all traces of Ella were lost. When she was 72, she killed herself. Many grey zones exist in Ella's life that the two sisters want to clear.
Review: When I saw the I interview (see embedded video below) of the two sisters, it felt so touching that it confirmed my impression (passion, debate, curious, open) on Baltic cinema and my wish to discover more of it.  The movie follows the process of the research on the grandmother. Therefore the sisters exchange ideas (who to ask, where to search), doubts about the progress, fears about opening secrets. In this type of family research, they experience discoveries about the Oma, about the administrative difficulties to be German or to speak German in Lithuania after the WWII; disappointments not to find key persons of Oma's story. It is noticeable that the Lithuanian neighbours of Oma knew she was German but never saw this as a problem, unlike the Lithuanian administration. One important aspect is the fear of their parents to talk about the German family and about what happened to Oma. It took the duration of the production to win the confidence of their mother to show the movie in public. The German co-author focused on the historical aspect of the grandmother journey. The production started whereas everything was unknown, as it started at the same time as the research. And nobody knew how it would continue. By luck the production team's approach was: "Do the film and then we will see".  This movie and also how it has been done are the best motivation for all who have stories in the family about which the elderly do not want or have difficulties to talk.
Rating: 7 /10