My Uncle Tudor

After 20 years of silence, the filmmaker travels back to the house of her great-grandparents, where she passed through harmful events that left a deep imprint on her memory forever. The long-awaited family gathering runs counter to her attempts to overcome the past. In intimate close-ups the camera captures an idyllic scene that seems to belong to a different era: ripe cherries, black-and-white photographs and a summerhouse full of memories of the seemingly carefree childhoods of several generations. Old aunties talk about the past and Uncle Tudor, too, answers the filmmaker’s questions. Little by little, she confronts him with her trauma, for which he is responsible. Olga Lucovnicova: "I have been studying cinema since 2011 and used to make documentary film portraits of other people. A year ago I decided to make my first personal film about my biggest pain - childhood memories that I had kept secret for decades. Contrary to the stereotype, children are more often traumatized by close people like relatives, friends and educators, than strangers. Parents teach their children to trust these people, who, sometimes, may have dual personalities. Thus, it is vital to teach children to identify, confront and report inappropriate adult behaviour. This is the central message of my film." Olga Lucovnicova is a Moldovan filmmaker based in Belgium. She studied cinematography for six years at the Academy of Music, Theater and Fine Arts of Moldova, and two years documentary film directing at DocNomads, an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Program, delivered by a consortium of three prominent European universities across Portugal, Hungary and Belgium. As a filmmaker, Olga is particularly interested in stories, which can generate social changes and create a platform for discussion. Her filming style combines observational cinema with poetic elements, where the key elements are human emotions and feelings.