Maud Nycander, director. In Latvian with English subtitles (58 min., 2013). Still photography by Inta Ruka, presenting the Penny Stamps lecture, “People I Know,” prior to the film screening.
Daina lives in Latgale in Eastern Latvia, close by the Russian border. She lives two miles from the nearest road, with no electricity or running water. The roof has collapsed. She is completely dependent upon herself in order to cope with her everyday life. Daina’s children have both emigrated, her son to Norway and her daughter to Italy. When she feels lonely, she goes to her dead husband’s grave and sits there talking with him as if he were still alive. Road’s End is a both poetic and existential film about choices we make in life, about obstinacy, love, and betrayal.
Maud Nycander has a long career as a documentary filmmaker, having made over ten films. Her film The Nun (2007), won the Prix Italia and the Guldbagge Award. Closed Psyciatric Ward (2010), a two-part film from a psyciatric ward, was nominated for the national awards TV-kristallen and Stora Journalistpriset. Her latest film, Palme (2012), drew a cinema audience of 240,000 in Sweden, received two Guldbagge Awards, and had an exceptional impact on Swedish social debate.
Sponsors: Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series; Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies; Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies
