Toto and His Sisters
Toto si surorile lui
Alexander Nanau
The astonishing family story of Toto (10), and his sisters, Ana (17) and Andreea (15). During their mother's imprisonment, Toto passionately learns dancing, reading and writing, while his sisters try to keep the family together in a world that has long forgotten what the innocence of childhood should be.
Image : Alexander Nanau
Sound : Matthias Lempert
Editing : Alexander Nanau, George Cragg, Mircea Olteanu
Sound : Matthias Lempert
Editing : Alexander Nanau, George Cragg, Mircea Olteanu
Production : Strada Film / contact@stradafilm.ro
International sales: Autlook Filmsales GmbH / welcome@autlookfilms.com
International sales: Autlook Filmsales GmbH / welcome@autlookfilms.com
Alexander Nanau is a german director, born in Romania. He studied directing in the dffb, German Film and Television Academy Berlin. His first documentary Peter Zadek inszeniert Peer Gynt (2006), was his graduation movie and was released in Germany and Austria. His documentary telefilm The World According To Ion B received an Emmy Award in 2010 and was selected in more than 50 festivals all around the world. Toto and His Sisters is his second feature after his studies.
"The question of what makes us who we are, and how we choose our models as children is a central issue for me in this film. After nine months of research, I have decided to tell the story of Toto and his sisters, a story that deals with the difficulty of children of different ages growing up without their mother in an environment dominated by poverty, violence and drug abuse, yet finding the strength to see the richness of life beyond that. [...] It is important that the film remains accessible to the viewer without trying to shock or to emphasize the misery of the ghetto. The violence and drug abuse should be perceived just as the protagonists live and see these things: as a normal part of life. [...] The film's attitude is not of looking down to the children, as if they were "small and vulnerable." We will always look through their eyes, at their own height, from a position of equality. To me the observational documentary is the most interesting form of telling this story, because I can become invisible as a storyteller."
"The question of what makes us who we are, and how we choose our models as children is a central issue for me in this film. After nine months of research, I have decided to tell the story of Toto and his sisters, a story that deals with the difficulty of children of different ages growing up without their mother in an environment dominated by poverty, violence and drug abuse, yet finding the strength to see the richness of life beyond that. [...] It is important that the film remains accessible to the viewer without trying to shock or to emphasize the misery of the ghetto. The violence and drug abuse should be perceived just as the protagonists live and see these things: as a normal part of life. [...] The film's attitude is not of looking down to the children, as if they were "small and vulnerable." We will always look through their eyes, at their own height, from a position of equality. To me the observational documentary is the most interesting form of telling this story, because I can become invisible as a storyteller."