ABOUT AN ORDINARY FAMILY

What would you do if you woke up one morning and all your savings had vanished? Argentina goes bankrupt and many of its inhabitants who once lived a comfortable life suddenly became poor.

Swedish filmmaker Fredrik Gertten followed a nice middle class family during three years, 2002 -2005. From the crisis that punished the middle class to the heartbreaking moment of emigration and a new beginning in Spain. Before, The Borroni family’s future was bright: Oscar had it all: he managed an oil company, had a great house, new car, American Express, Visa and Mastercard. He travelled to the United States, Mexico and Europe. His wife Maria del los Angeles Kelez studied medicine and their three children attended private schools.

But one day it was all over. The national crisis switched over to a personal one. The family had a $100.000 mortgage on the house but no income. Maria becomes an expert at the barter movement to survive without cash, swapping things and this way manages to keep the family alive without money. They struggle to prevent their house from being auctioned, and finally decide to sell everything and leave the country. This is a film about losing faith in ones home country and starting from zero in another, leaving loved ones behind. AN ORDINARY FAMILY shows the struggle to recover dignity and identity. Yet it is not a dark film as the Borroni’s teach us in a human, loving and modest way how you can overcome such a crisis as in fact they are an extra ordinary family.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Fredrik Gertten, director of Bikes vs Cars, is an award-winning Swedish director and journalist.

His latest works BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!* (2012) and BANANAS!* (2009) have met audiences in over 80 countries including leading festivals such as Sundance, Berlinale, Hot Docs, Toronto, IDFA, Melbourne IFF, Sao Paulo IFF and Sheffield. The sale of fairtrade bananas in Sweden almost doubled after the release of the films.

In 1994, Fredrik founded the production company WG Film. He previously worked as a foreign correspondent and columnist for radio, TV and press in Africa, Latin America, Asia and around Europe. Today he combines filmmaking with a role as a creative producer at WG Film – famous for local stories with a global understanding, with several films catching the identity and transformation of his hometown.

PRODUCTION INFO

Title: An ordinary family

Genre: Documentary

Production year: 2004

Length: 58 min

CREDITS

Director: Fredrik Gertten

Producers: Fredrik Gertten

Editor: Jesper Osmund

With support from: The MEDIA Programme of the European Union

FESTIVALS

Tempo Dokumentärfestival, Stockholm, Sverige 2005

IDFA – International Documentary Film Festival, Amsterdam, Nederländerna 2005

Docs Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain 2006

Dox True Films, International Documentary Film Festival, Zagreb, Croatia 2006

EDIF – EBS International Documentary Festival, Seoul, Sydkorea 2006