Oscars: Latvia Nominates 'Mother I Love You' in Foreign Language Category
Janis Nord's story of a troubled boy won a Berlin youth film award and the best feature honor at the Los Angeles Film Fest.
GYDNIA, Poland -- An award-winning youth film Mother I Love You about a 12-year-old boy who falls in with the wrong crowd, directed by Janis Nord, was picked Wednesday as Latvia's nomination for best foreign language film in next year's Oscars.
A hit with juries at the Los Angeles Film Festival, where it won best dramatic feature and Berlin's Generation KPlus section, where it won the grand prix of the international jury, the movie tells the story of Raimonds, who tries to stay out of trouble with his mother while pursuing a secret life of petty crime.
The Berlin jury's award statement said: "One little lie can change everything, because it often takes an even greater lie to leave things unrevealed.
"The film touched us deeply, because it gives us a look into the inner conflict of a boy who learns to take responsibility for his actions and experience," the jury added.
It has also earned kudos from the children and youth-focused Zlin Festival, for best European feature and Tel Aviv's Children and Youth International Film Festival where it took the grand prix for best feature.
The picture, made on a budget of $200,000 in the small Baltic state where around five features are produced each year, stars Kristofers Konovalovs as Raimonds and Vita Varpina as his mother.
It was produced by Film Studio Tanka and is distributed by the National Film Center of Latvia.
