Synopsis
13 years on the road from the bottom in Helena Třeštíková’s documentary.
Many drug-addicted mothers are determined to give up drugs when their child is born, but few manage to do so. Mallory managed to restart her life because of little Kryštof, even though she “didn’t expect it to be so hard.”
Over the course of thirteen years, she has been in several bad relationships, lived in a broken-down car for half a year, put her son in an institution for a period of time, and tried in vain to secure affordable housing at the municipal authorities. Thanks to her inner strength and determination, she was able to reverse her fate in the end. The time-lapse film by director Helena Třeštíková, awarded at the IFF in Karlovy Vary, presents a life story that leads to the light at the end of the tunnel.
Country
Czech Republic
Producers
KATEŘINA ČERNÁ
PAVEL STRNAD
Genre
Documentary
CO-PRODUCERS
ČESKÁ TELEVIZE
FILMOVÉ CENTRUM
Release Date
23. 7. 2015
Screening Formats
DCP
Runtime
101 MIN
Trailer & Photogallery
Cast & Crew
Director & Writer
HELENA TŘEŠTÍKOVÁ
Cinematography
MIROSLAV SOUČEK, VLASTIMIL HAMERNÍK, ROBERT NOVÁK, DAVID CYSAŘ, JIŘÍ CHOD, JAKUB HEJNA
Editor
JAKUB HEJNA
Dramaturgist
JAN GOGOLA ML., MICHAEL TŘEŠTÍK
MUSIC
TADEÁŠ VĚRČÁK
Sound Designer
RICHARD MÜLLER
About the film
Director Helena Třeštíková first met Mallory in 2002 when she was part of a film series about drugs, looking into the topic of Women and drugs. Mallory served as an example of a mother who stopped using drugs after her child was born. And indeed, Mallory stopped using drugs overnight, even though after returning from the community for mothers and children and sheltered housing in Prague’s Sananim, her life was a real struggle for survival.
“Returning to society was rough. When I learned to manage cravings and the stress of raising a child and to give days a right rhythm, I ran into a lot of obstacles and mistrust from people around me. If you want social housing, you have to have a steady income from working, which is unreal if you have a small child and no roof over your head. The last straw was trying to get an unfurnished apartment in non-payer housing. The roadblock was that I was not a non-payer,” says Mallory about her endless struggle with the bureaucracy. In 2012, Mallory started studying at a secondary school focusing on social work, and after her practical training, she volunteered at the Asistence association. She wants to continue her education at a higher vocational school.