The Flower Bridge

A father lives with his son and two daughters on a farm in Moldova, which has no running water or automated machinery. They have to do all the work in the fields and garden, and also tend to their animals by themselves. They have to cope with housework as well, and the children somehow have to find time for the school they regularly attend over the hill. Their mother lives faraway in Italy, where she is earning money for the family. She stays in contact with the rest of them by post. The children send her letters and they get parcels and gifts by return. These most often contain seeds for flowers, which form a bridge of communication between the children and their mother. This poetic film about the everyday life of humble people with a very low standard of living, who experience feelings of happiness and sadness with temperance, portrays a world in which man is in harmony with nature. Perhaps the hard work and lack of entertainment gives a depressing sense of emptiness to the children's world where there is no money for video games or fashion crazes. Nevertheless, the closeness between the family's individual members is stronger here than it is elsewhere, which helps partially compensate for the absence of their mother. Among other things, the film shows how the father is a very good, loving and thoughtful carer. This documentary has won several awards at international festivals.