Synopsis

Born on the Russian island of Sakhalin and raised in Latvia, young Zelma grows up in constant conflict with the desperate expectations forced upon her as a young woman. Haunted by a trio of singing sirens, she embarks on a desperate search for love and happiness, but finds only opposition and struggle at every turn. Signe Baumane’s semi-autobiographical coming-of-age tale is a visually ravishing animated odyssey peppered with dark humour and sly observations about the immigrant experience and humanity’s eternal battle of the sexes.

Signe Baumane

Signe Baumane, an independent animator known for her controversial films on the subjects of sex, pregnancy, dentists and madness, was born in Latvia in 1964. Signe studied Philosophy at the Moscow State University. The one thing she learned in her five years of Philosophy study was that knowledge is relative: what you know to be the truth today can become a lie tomorrow. In 1991 Signe was given an opportunity to direct her first animated short, The Witch and the Cow. When the film was finished Signe started to work as a freelance designer and illustrator with publishing houses in Moscow and Riga. Ever since she wrote, directed, designed and animated 16 shorts and two animated feature films.