My Flesh and Blood
My Flesh and Blood (2018) portrays the relationship of the author’s grandmother and grandfather who were married in 1959. 50 years later, they once again stand at the altar to reaffirm their oath from long ago. With time, they have learned when to stand up for themselves and when to be quiet. When to forgive and when to let go. They also know there isn’t much time left.
My Flesh and Blood is part of the short documentary collection Roots, which joined six personal and diverse stories about womanhood. Watch another documentary from the same collection here.
My Flesh and Blood tells a very personal story about love and loss. When did you decide to take a camera and tell such a personal and heartfelt story about your grandparents?
I started documenting my grandparents years ago, when all four of them were still alive. I had a lot of material, but I couldn’t find the right angle to make a film out of it. Then in one moment, when only the last grandmother was among us, I suddenly understood that there’s a strong story hidden “between the lines” of her marriage with my grandfather. I didn’t dare to tell this story alone, so I invited five more female documentary directors and we created together a series of short documentaries called Roots.
Heilika Pikkov (1982) is a documentary filmmaker and internationally well-known curator and cultural manager. For eight years she was the organiser and programmer of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival’s animation festival Animated Dreams. Currently she works as the Culture Adviser at the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In co-operation with Ülo Pikkov, she has a production company Silmviburlane for documentary and animation films, where she continues working as a director. Since 2018 she has also been on the board of the Estonian Documentary Guild.
Keep an eye on Heilika’s work
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