Family Portrait in Black and White - Entertainment News, Film Reviews

CRITIC’S PICK “Family Portrait is riveting” - LA Weekly

“Engaging documentary…Well-crafted, nicely scored.” – Variety

“An emotionally absorbing subject filled with layers of complexity.” - Now Toronto

“Masterfully packed with more societal and psychological issues than any other film showing at HotDocs this year.” – CritisizeThis

20 th SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL (USA) “PREMIERE -World Documentary Competition”

18 th HOT DOCS FILM FESTIVAL (Canada) “Grand Prize: Best Canadian Film Award”

56 TH VALLADOLID INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (Spain) “Cultural Diversity Award” and “Time of History Third Prize”

6th MIRADASDOC –Documentary Film Festival Guia de Isadora (Spain) “Audience Award”

Addl Festivals: IDFA Best of Fests , Los Angeles , Mumbai, Bergen, Haifa, Hamptons, Watch Docs Human Rights, Astra, Message to Man, Vancouver, This Human World, Cleveland, Glasgow, EBS Docs, Human Rights Watch plus more

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/.(#$ +#)! C #* / ##(&3''#&#$$!3#$ #&&(!$!3#$ / #* /#* O C $#!(&!*'0(&/'&!! &#!''&.# '.+#!%&'(&% +.'&'#-#!.'&*(*0%#$%&''#'&*(&!5(" -+(+!!&$$%'!.&!0$,&'!(&" '1=66#$%&''#'&*(&!(" $$ +! !'3* Family Portrait in Black and White - Entertainment News, Film Reviews,... http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117944498?printerfriendly=true

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Posted: Thu., Feb. 3, 2011, 10:23pm PT

Engaging docu considers the much-extended household of Olga Nenya, a middle-aged Ukrainian woman who's foster mother to 17 children.

By DENNIS HARVEY

Engaging docu "Family Portrait in Black and White" considers the much-extended household of Olga Nenya, a middle-aged Ukrainian woman who's foster mother to 17 children, many mixed-race. But while the pic initially appears an inspirational portrait of one small domestic stand against pervasive racism, the real drama of Julia Ivanova's feature lies in the kids' dawning perception that their well-intentioned but stubbornly old-fashioned benefactress may be unable or unwilling to make the right decisions for their future. Pic should snap up broadcast deals along the fest route, with niche theatrical sales possible in markets with emigre enclaves from former Soviet territories.

A figure who wouldn't be out of place in a 1930s USSR agricultural propaganda film, Nenya is proudly unconcerned about the derogatory attitudes a seeming majority of her fellow countrymen feel toward blacks. We hear skinheads offer such wisdoms as, "If a white and a subhuman produce an offspring, the resulting creature can only be an idiot." Similar sentiments are heard from her next-door neighbor -- who moments later is seen stumbling around in the perpetual drunken stupor that's cost him custody of his own child.

Some of Nenya's charges are half-African or half-Middle Eastern, and most know little about their biological parents, who presumably abandoned them because of the social stigma. All consider her their true mother, and are grateful for all she's done for them. Still, her constant nagging to feed the goats or tend the vegetable garden is just about the only note she can play: When the children are old enough to forge lives of their own, her limited worldview proves a real problem.

Nenya refuses to let any of them be adopted elsewhere (many have long visited European host families in the summer through a post-Chernobyl exchange program), even when their prospects would greatly improve as a result. She indulges disabled, dropout eldest Egor -- whom the others consider a bully and delinquent -- while taking a hard line with her bright younger ones' pleas to take advantage of educational or training opportunities that have been offered. For instance, in order to realize his potential, musically inclined, clearly quite brilliant 16-year-old Kiril must finally rebel -- an action that brings cruel retaliation from "Mama."

Nenya is no monster, but simply an uneducated relic of another era. Having chosen a virtuous but unpopular path (which drove her husband away long ago), she may simply be protecting herself from loneliness in keeping her wards close when they'd often be better off flying free.

1 of 2 21/02/2011 4:56 P M Family Portrait in Black and White - Entertainment News, Film Reviews,... http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117944498?printerfriendly=true

Well-crafted, nicely scored pic twice jumps a year ahead to update protags' progress. Most viewers would be delighted if Ivanova revisited them all in another few years for a follow-up feature.

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2 of 2 21/02/2011 4:56 P M Meet the 2011 Sundance Filmmakers | 'Family Portrait in Black and White' Director Julia Ivanova - indieWIRE Page 1

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Features MORE » Meet the 2011 Sundance Filmmakers | “Family Portrait in Like 31 | Black and White” Director Julia Ivanova by indieWIRE(January7, 2011) In a Ukrainian village, big-hearted, formidable Olga Nenya single-handedly raises 23 foster children. Sixteen are the biracial offspring of visiting African students and Ukrainian women, who, living in a country of blue-eyed blondes that’s racked with endemic racism, often see no choice but to abandon their babies. And that’s where Olga comes in. Related Film “Family Portrait in Black and White” charts the rhythms of Olga’s hectic household, rife with rambunctiouskids and goats. As diverse dramas unfold among the brood—a high-schooler struggling to transcend his plight through education, a boy longing to reunite with his Ugandan father, and a child courted for Italian A scene from Julia Ivanova 's 2011 Sundance Film Festival World Cinema adoption—Olga reveals herself to be loving and Documentary Competition film "Family Portrait in Black and White ." protective, but also narrow-minded and Image courtesy of Sundance Institute . controlling. A product of communist ideology, she favors collective duty over individual freedom. It’s this philosophy that gives the orphans the rich sense of belonging they ache for, as well as cause for rebellion and distrust, in this lyrical, sometimes gut-wrenching tale FamilyPortrait in Black and White about the meaning of “Mama,” “family,” and “nation.” [Description courtesy of Sundance Institute] Directedby Julia Ivanova (Canada)

[indieWIRE invited directors with films in the Sundance U.S. Dramatic & Documentary Competitions as well as the release calendar » World Dramatic & Documentary Competitions and NEXT section to submit responses in their own words about their films. These profiles are being published through the beginning of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. To promp t the discussion, iW asked the filmmakers about what inspired their films, the challenges they faced and other Related Articles general questions. They were also free to add additional comments related to their projects.] 1 SXSW Film FestivalUnveilsNarrative& Doc “Family Portrait in Black and White” Competitions,Headlinersand EmergingTalen t World Cinema DocumentaryCompetition Why 38 FilmsSoldat Sundance,Many of Director: Julia Ivanova 2 Them Dark Screenwriter: Julia Ivanova Executive Producer: Sally Jo Fifer, Mette Hoffmann Meyer, Julia Ivanova 3 The 2011 SundanceSnowflake:Take a Closer Producer: Boris Ivanov Look Cinematographer: Julia Ivanova, Stanislav Shakhov Editor: Julia Ivanova 4 'Into Eternity'FilmmakerInterview:Into the Music: Boris Sichon Underworld&Into the Future 5 Woody's 'Paris' Is OpeningCannes http://fb.indiewire.com/indieWIRENews 02/02/2011 12:18:14 PM Meet the 2011 Sundance Filmmakers | 'Family Portrait in Black and White' Director Julia Ivanova - indieWIRE Page 2

Responses courtesy of “Family Portrait in Black and White” director Julia Ivanova.

From the Soviet Union to Canada…

I grew up in a family that was very connected with the art of cinema. My father was a programming director for the Moscow InternationalFilm Festival, and it definitely influenced my sense of visual storytelling. But I never dared to even dream of becoming a filmmaker. I thought one needs to know for sure that “I have a talent of Tarkovsky.” I studied at the only film school that existed in Soviet Union, VGIK, but I studied producing and not directing. After immigrating to Canada I became an adoption coordinator. Only then, when I met absolutely amazing people – the adoptive parents – did I get a very strong desire to tell the world how great these people are. Since for me the most natural way to tell a story is through visuals, I made a film about international adoption. So, the desire to tell a particular story brought me to the career of filmmaking and not vice versa. Then it took me a number of films and years to become first the shooter, and then the editor of my films. And now, I would say, editing is my biggest passion!

Personal connection to film…

I grew up in the Soviet Union where “All people were equal, but some people were more equal than others,” if I may paraphrase George Orwell. It didn’t take much observation, even for a child, to sense that the worst thing in that society was to be born mixed-race. I saw just a few black kids back then, but I remember how unfair the societal rejection felt to me. Thirty something years later I was filming in Moscow and saw an article and a photo in a local newspaper about a foster mother in Ukraine and her 16 mixed-race children. That’s how I learned about Olga Nenya and her family. I called her, and she agreed to be in the film. Both of us didn’t know that I would be coming back for three years, of course. The idea of the film hasn’t changed but the complexity of the film definitely has. Now it is a very serious film, not only about racism and the sense of belonging, but also, and most of all, about the orphanhood and the parent-teenager conflict.

Charting the whole story…

The household is huge – almost 20 children. Surprisingly, very early on it became clear who would be the main subjects in the film. I always kept it in mind while filming. But I was so fascinated by the integrity of all children that I wanted to film everything and everyone as well. With the cameraman, we would spend over 10 hours every day with the family, giving the camera to each other whenever one got tired. I edited a long demo after the first year shoot. After I came back from the second trip a year later, I edited a 30 minute piece. Such an approach helped me tremendouslyto realize what I needed to film on my third trip that would provide the ending for all the stories. Of course, the final film is very different from what was edited in the first two years but I feel that, if I ever again film the story for several years, such gradual editing really helps to create a better film. Advertisewith us

‘Directing’ the subject…

The biggest challenge was to find the moment when Olga, the foster mother, would be in a mood to talk on camera. She gave us complete access to the life of the family but didn’t want to answer any questions, not even repeating what she just said off-camera. Since she is not used to taking any sort of directions from anyone, I basically felt like one of her foster children in terms of where the power was. At the end of the day, I believe the film benefits from having more scenes of live interaction between Olga and the children than her commentaries. That said, for a long time I was quite nervous. Most Popular Today 1 Why 38 FilmsSoldat Sundance,Many of Ups and downs of shoot… Them Dark

So many great stories happened during the three years I followed 2 Meetthe 2011 SundanceFilmmakers| the kids. I almost lost the equipment in Ukraine, and I did loose “Abraxas”DirectorNaoki Kato my passport in Italy but it seems funny now when I look back. 3 The 2011 SundanceSnowflake:Take a Closer What makes this story unique and universal… Look

FebruaryPreview:The 5 Must See Films I believe it’s a unique but also a universal story: How one has a 4 sense of belonging, but the group - which can be as small as 5 Sundance2011 | I Wasn’t There: Sundance classmates or as big as a nation - refuses to include you; how we Doc “WeWereHere” and the Importanceof are born with different personalities, abilities, talents and HIV/AIDS in Film inspirations no matter whether one grows up in a village or in the center of the world; how cruel and indifferent any system is; “FamilyPortraitin Black and White” directorJulia how a child is really an angel who has a need to love and be Ivanova.Imagecourtesyof SundanceInstitute. loved; how an authoritarianparent can forgive a child many shortcomings except for one – having a strong opinion and determination not to give in.

http://www.indiewire.com/article/meet_the_2011_sundance_filmmakers_family_portrait_in_black_and_white_direct/ 02/02/2011 12:18:14 PM Meet the 2011 Sundance Filmmakers | 'Family Portrait in Black and White' Director Julia Ivanova - indieWIRE Page 3

I believe the film will be interesting to an audience in any country because of the combination of these universal themes and the unique story of these kids with their great personalities and big hearts who happen to live a in a village among drunks and goats. Plus, one of the boys in the family might have had an American father whom he hopes to find through this film!

Varied inspirations…

The films that are inspirational for this particular film are: “My Flesh and Blood,” directed by Jonathan Karsh, because of its emotional intensity. “Born into Brothels,” directed by Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman, because the children are so admirable. “The 400 Blows,” directed by François Truffaut, because this was a film about a misunderstood young teenager and it had the ending I will always remember. “Billy Elliot,” directed by Stephen Daldry, because of its energy and because it is about childhood, the force of talent and ability to rise above the circumstances.

Watch more free documentaries Future ideas in the pipeline…

There are several ideas I am interested in. Mostly I am interested in stories about children and about romantic relationships. I also love dance and would love to make a film about modern ballet. Another topic that makes my heart beat is migration, leaving the past behind and starting anew. I know what I don’t want to touch – the stories about crime and human cruelty.

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http://www.indiewire.com/article/meet_the_2011_sundance_filmmakers_family_portrait_in_black_and_white_direct/ 02/02/2011 12:18:14 PM

Hot Docs 2011 Preview Pt. 7 By Andrew Parker – April 24, 2011 Posted in: Film Festivals, Hot Docs 2011

Family Portrait in Black and White Canadian Spectrum Director: Julia Ivanova

Foster families are always complex subjects, but Julia Ivanova’s film about one such Ukrainian family is masterfully packed with more societal and psychological issues than any other film showing at HotDocs this year. Olga Nenya is a controlling and domineering woman fostering 18 children. 16 of those children are either black or mixed race in a country where racism is still front and centre in mainstream society, including Olga’s bully of a biological son who is a one armed layabout who steals anything that isn’t bolted down. The kids themselves are incredibly complex and articulate. A feature length film could be made about any one of them and their love/hate relationship with a woman who is equal parts altruistic and selfish. A real emotional powerhouse, Ivanova deserves all the credit in the world for taking such a complicated portrait of family life and tightly packing it all into a less than two hour film without leaving any large questions unanswered or at least touched upon. From the chilling opening to the incredibly bittersweet conclusion, Family Portrait in Black and White is a film that will likely and justly be studied for years to come and is easily one of the biggest standouts of this year’s festival.

Rating (out of five stars): ***** AFP: Sundance 'Family' offers glimpse of Ukraine racis m http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hbBA9wIBpMc...

Sundance 'Family' offers glimpse of Ukraine racism By Romain Raynaldy (AFP) – 4 days ago

PARK CITY, Utah — "Family Portrait in Black and White" has brought the story of a woman raising 16 black orphans in Ukraine, an overwhelmingly white and often racist society, to the Sundance film festival. The searing film by Julia Ivanova, a Russian filmmaker based in Canada, is up for the documentary grand prize at the independent film festival here in the western US mountains of Utah, which closes on Sunday. Set in Sumy, a town of 300,000 inhabitants in northeast Ukraine, the film follows Olga Nenya, who has adopted 16 black orphans in a country that is 99.9 percent white. They are the children of Ukrainians and African students, abandoned by their mothers because of the stigma, inherited from Soviet times, against interracial relationships and children of mixed blood. Director Julia Ivanova and Boris Ivanova pose for a portrait "(Olga) is a person who has absolutely zero percent racism in herself. And she's a fighter in her way, on a small level," Ivanova told AFP. Map The film makes clear, however, that she's no Mother Theresa: the strict disciplinarian runs the family like a military platoon inside their home, donated by a British charity. "When she is in the room, you immediately feel that she is strong and you follow her direction," Ivanova says. "The slogan in the family is: 'There is no place for democracy in a family with so many children'. But it's her presence that makes everything work. Which means also that she cannot leave the house, because if she does, everything falls apart." Many of the children could be the subjects of their own films: there is Sashka, a bully and natural leader; the intelligent Kiril, who goes by the name "Mr. President;" and Roman, who dreams of being a famous footballer. The film follows the children as they come of age in a racist Ukraine, embodied at one point by a skinhead march through the town. The children discover a more tolerant atmosphere during summers visiting with different families in France and Italy -- but Olga refuses to allow the families to adopt the kids, and is determined to raise them as proud Ukrainians. "Olga doesn't see how bad it is for these children because she has never traveled abroad, she has never seen other societies. But these children have. They have a knowledge of the world that she doesn't have," Ivanova says. "When they are small, their love for their mother is a strong emotion, but when they become teenagers and have the ability to analyze more, even the most patriotic of the children look for ways to leave Ukraine." "Nobody wants to be a second-class citizen," she says. In this most unlikely of families, Olga struggles with the pain of letting go, a condition familiar to any parent who has dropped off a teenager at college or given her away at a wedding. "With Olga I discovered how much contradictions you can find in one single person. Loving somebody but cutting off all opportunities of the same person, controlling this person," Ivanova said. The film takes Ukrainian authorities to task, both for their failure to aid Olga and their feeble efforts to curtail racism. Near the end of the film Ivanova tells the heartrending story of Andrei, one of Olga's children who was taken by social services to a psychiatric hospital, where his treatment amounted to "torture." "Because he was an orphan, they could do whatever they wanted with him. I want to see this investigated and put this hospital on the spot," she said. Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

Related articles Sundance 'Family' offers glimpse of Ukraine racism AFP - 4 days ago

Sundance review: "Family Portrait in Black and White" Reuters Canada - 4 days ago

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