Tata
Lina Vdovii & Radu Ciorniciuc / Romania, Germany & Netherlands / 2024 / 82 min
The roles are reversed in a brave and unusual film about a courageous filmmaker's willingness to confront her father with the violence and trauma of the past.
Violence breeds violence, but sometimes the vicious circle has a weak spot. Filmmaker Lina Vdovîi has spent many years distancing herself from her father and her upbringing in Moldova. Today, she lives a good life in Romania, while her father is a farm worker somewhere in Italy. They have almost no contact until she receives a video message from him, showing his bruised body. Lina is torn about what to do, but her doubts win out and she sets off to find out what happened to him. It’s the first step on a journey full of twists and turns unlike any other family movie you have ever seen. ‘Tata’, meaning father, is one of the breakout successes of the last year and is a film of immense relevance at a time when the confrontation with toxic masculinity is paving way for real change.