Marina has been diligently playing the role of mother-martyr since her child was born, taking her mildly autistic son from one doctor to the next, and isolating him from society. Although he is currently enrolled in university, 22-year-old Oleg still doesn’t live up to his mother’s idea of a real man. Wanting to improve the quality of her son’s life, which would ensure the most important thing – having a wife and finding a job – Marina subjects Oleg to a string of unconventional treatments. The boy gets into playing the role of Don Juan with his amateur theatre group, but during a session with his psychotherapist he is forced to play a horse, carting the aggressive specialist around the office. The psychological showdown between Oleg and Marina raises the question of the fragile line between normal and abnormal in today’s society. At the same time, this is a film about the victory of hope and reason.

Autism is the congenital spectrum of developmental challenges characterized by problems with communication and social interaction. There are approximately 11,500 persons in Latvia afflicted with forms of autism; in the most severe cases the patients live in total isolation from society. It’s believed that Albert Einstein, Sir Isaac Newton, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Charles Darwin, Thomas Jefferson and Michelangelo were all autistic.

SCREENINGS / RIGA, CINEMA K.SUNS

THURSDAY / SEPTEMBER 8 / 18:00
After the screening – meeting with film director Jerzy Sladkowsky and Līga Bērziņa, Chairwoman of the Autism Society of Latvia

SATURDAY / SEPTEMBER 10 / 15:00