Competition
North American Premiere


PUTIN'S MAMA
POETIN'S MAMA



Country of production: Netherlands
Year: 2003
Language: Georgian, Russin, Dutch
Mins: 51

Director: Ineke Smits
Script: Ineke Smits
Cinematography: Giorgi Beridze
Music: Gio Tsinsadze
Editing: Menno Boerema
Sound: Maarten van Gent
Producer: Pieter van Huystee
Production company: Pieter van Huystee Film
Source: Matthijs Koenen
PVH Film
Noordermarkt 37-39
1015 NA Amsterdam
NETHERLANDS
Phone: +31 20 4210606
Fax: +31 20 6386255
matthijs@pvhfilm.nl
www.pvhfilm.nl

Not much in Vera Putina's 77-year existence distinguished her from all those other Russian women who grew up and grew old in the Soviet Union. Then, in 1999, she recognized in Vladimir Putin the son she thought was lost forever.

Did the son that Vera thought was lost, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, really become the President of Russia? Vera no longer asks this question: for her it is undoubtedly true. She is not alone, for her daughters and the other inhabitants of the Georgian village of Metechi are also sure that the ten-year-old who disappeared long ago is the very same as Russia's leader.

Over the course of this stirring and unusual portrait of Putin's former world and family, we learn about why young "Vova" left them behind. With much flair, Vera tells her story, joined by neighbors, other family members, and Vova's childhood friends. Slowly, we learn how Vera lost her Vova. Yet despite the tragedy of a mother losing her child, we also receive a touching and sometimes humorous portrait of the aging yet still vivacious woman who gave birth to one of the world's most powerful men.

Ineke Smits was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in 1960. She studied at the National Film and Television School in England, and teaches at Arnhem School of Fine Arts. She has worked extensively in arts programs connecting the Netherlands and the Republic of Georgia.

filmography as director
PUTIN'S MAMA (2003)
MAGONIA (2001)

Saturday 10-Apr-2004 5:00 PM Gallery Theatre
Screening with RUSSIAN WITCHHUNT

Thursday 15-Apr-2004 9:00 PM Gallry Theatre screening with MOSCOW SIEGE