Lena – A life story
I’ve been busy researching a documentary that has been in my mind for a couple of years now. It all started with a lecture film a couple of years ago. I was documenting a workshop called relationship week, it addressed how to get out of a destructive relationship. It’s an all women’s group and I was privileged enough to be filming in the discussions of about 20-30 women with different destructive pasts. Most of them had been addicted to narcotics or alcohol for many years and was both trying to change their habits of addiction and destructive relations.
The woman that holds the responsibility for the relationship week is called Lena. She has come clean of an 17 year old drug addiction. In six years she lived with a man that abused her. She was close to taking her life when no one took the violence in her relationship seriously. Finally she was admitted to the psyche and came into contact with a therapist.
The documentary is about Lena and her life story. It’s a really interestning story about a woman who has lived outside society’s norms in many years. Her life experience of poverty is enormous. Despite this, she managed to turn her life into something positive and today she’s trying to improve substance abuse treatment in Sweden.
Next week I will do my first days of shooting with Lena. The project will become an animated documentary. It will be really interesting to see a life story with a lot of authenticity combined with animated storytelling. More information about the project will be posted regularly.
