Project Detail

Dolls Can't Cry

Aneta Nowicka

Synopsis

Seven years ago, Faith dumped her rape child on her sister. Now, pregnant with a second child, she desperately wants her daughter back. But, her boyfriend and her sister have conspired to have the girl adopted. Agoraphobic and bordering on the edge of sanity, Faith's seemingly hopeless attempts to win her daughter's trust result in disaster. Haunted by demons and unable to accept her past or her present, Faith's only solace is a childhood dollhouse, a fantasy space where 'bad things never happen'. A place where she plays at being a real mother. Luring her daughter into this make-believe world, the dolls begin to reveal themselves as thin veil covering the shocking secrets of her past. With reality crashing in on her, she finally has to face the truth about herself. A revelation that will transform her life.

Thrown straight into the emotional turmoil of the Faith's fragmented and disturbing world, the narrative gradually reveals itself as the pieces fit together. Told in a distinctive visual style through Faith's distorted perspective, we experience her anger, horror, fear, pain, and finally joy as she battles to be a real mother.

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Details

Year: 2012
Type of project: Features
Running time: 83min
Format: HDCAM
Director: Aleksandra Czenczek
Producer: Alistair Ayres
Editor: Marcin Erol, Aleksandra Czenzek
Screenwriter: Alistair Ayres, Aleksandra Czenczek
Director of Photography: Tomek Borokowski
Production Designer: Annalisa Andriani
Sound: Nico Metten
Composer: Jordan Gilmour
Principal cast: Lara Belmont, Eden Nathenson, Daniel Sommerford, Barbara Joslyn