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The Woman With The Five Elephants |
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 DOCUMENTARY FILM, 92 mins
Swetlana Geier is considered the greatest translator of Russian literature into German. She has just concluded her lifework for Zurich’s Ammann publishing house – completing new translations Dostoyevsky’s five great novels – known as the five elephants. Her work is characterised by a great and sensual feeling for language and an uncompromising respect for the writers she translates. Her life has been overshadowed by Europe’s varied history.
Together with the film director, the eighty-five-year old woman is making her first trip from her chosen home in Germany back to the places of her childhood in the Ukraine.
The film interweaves the story of Swetlana Geier’s life with her literary work and traces the secret of this inexhaustibly hard-working woman. It tells of great suffering, silent helpers and unhoped-for chances – and a love of language that outshines all else.
D/CH 2009
92mins
Written and directed by Vadim Jendreyko
Photographed by Niels Bolbrinker, Stéphane Kuthy
Edited by Gisela Castronari-Jaensch
In co-production with Mira Film Basel, 3sat and Swiss Television
Supported by MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg, Federal Office for Culture Bern, MEDIA
Festival: Visions du Réel, Nyon 2009
Awards: Prix SSR Idée Suisse 2009, Prix Suisseimage 2009, DEFA-Promotion Prize 2009
Nominated for European Film Prize 2009 in the category European Film Academy Documentary film - Prix ARTE.
www.5elefanten.ch
www.realfictionfilme.de
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