The Cinematheque

Slovakia

“Dancing between documentary and fiction, 107 Mothers finds an unsettling balance between the two, and the results are often tremendously moving.”

Leonardo Goi, MUBI Notebook

Winner of Best Screenplay in Venice’s 2021 Horizons program, the latest from Slovak documentarian Peter Kerekes (whose 66 Seasons played EUFF 2004) is a poignant docufiction hybrid that glimpses the difficult lives of imprisoned new mothers in southern Ukraine. Set in an Odessa women’s correctional facility, 107 Mothers takes as its factual premise the abbreviated window for incarcerated mothers to care for and bond with their children: when a child turns three, they are transferred to another guardian or, more commonly, to a state-run orphanage. This heartrending countdown propels Kerekes’s penetrating film, which follows new inmate Lesya (Maryna Klimova), sentenced to seven years for murdering her newborn’s father, as she navigates first-time motherhood behind bars. The work’s highly mannered aesthetic belies its real-life subjects, who appear in the film as versions of themselves and whose stories inform the stirring narrative. 107 Mothers was Slovakia’s official submission to last year’s Oscars.

In Russian and Ukrainian with English subtitles

“An unusual and rewarding docufiction feature woven from the firsthand stories of Odessa prisoners, executed with a blend of close-to-the-bone realism and heightened formal refinement.” Guy Lodge, Variety

Streaming
December 1 (Friday) through
December 17 (Sunday)

To stream this film:
Follow this link to the virtual platform.
Purchase a ticket for $12 (plus tax) or purchase a multi-film pass (details below). 

Once rented, you will have 72 hours to start the film.
If you are having technical issues with the stream, please click here.
You can also contact EUFF directly by emailing info@​euffonline.​ca.

This film is available to stream in Canada only. 

Five Virtual Film Bundle: $50 (plus tax)
Online Festival Pass: $100 (plus tax) 

Please note: Tickets to in-person screenings do not include access to online EUFF offerings, nor vice versa.