January-February Film Challenge: A Film For Every Letter in the Alphabet

Film Twenty: The Ties That Bind (1984). Su Friedrich's experimental art film explores mother-daughter relationships unconventionally. It examines the realities of her mother's history as a child in Nazi Germany, and the psychic and cultural divide between generations. Chronicling her mother's awful experiences through interviews and archival footage, Friedrich reinforces the separation between the two. She asks questions "silently" through writing and never speaks directly to her. A challenging yet rewarding film that everyone should watch because of the issues Friedrich addresses about the importance of family, the weight of history, and the often fraught improbabilities of personal connection.



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