9-Month Contract

Ketevan Vashagashvili / Georgia, Bulgaria & Germany / 2025 / World Premiere / 79 min

For single Georgian mother Zhana, surrogacy is the only way to give her teenage daughter Elene a better and more dignified life. She has no education, a job as a cashier at the local supermarket, and has grown up somewhere between the orphanage and the streets of Tbilisi. In desperation, she rents her womb to foreign childless couples. 14,000 dollars for nine months of pregnancy. The amount, which at first seems large, quickly runs out and before she knows it, she is stuck in a vicious spiral. From pregnancy to pregnancy, her health deteriorates. Zhana tries to keep her growing belly hidden from her daughter, but Elene is also growing bigger and smarter, and what happens when she sees through her mother? Fear of poverty and working as a surrogate pushes her ageing body to the limit. Ketevan Vashagashvili has portrayed the relationship between mother and daughter with trust and intimacy over many years, creating an unflinching film about a woman’s love for her daughter – and a system that is ready to exploit it.

Familiarise yourself with human rights at CPH:DOX
According to a new survey from the Danish Institute for Human Rights, Danes largely support human rights and believe they are important – but more than half, 53 percent, cannot name a single human right. At the premiere screenings of all films nominated for the Human Rights Award, you will receive the 30 articles of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, printed by Human Rights Watch. And below you can see exactly which articles this film addresses.

Article 16
Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.

Article 23
Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.