ABOUT THE FILM
Inspired by Philip Larkin’s poem “This be the Verse”, YOUR MUM AND DAD: A DEVASTATING TRUTH is an exploration of the powerful dynamics of family relationships and the way they shape our lives.
YOUR MUM AND DAD: A DEVASTATING TRUTH
DIRECTED BY: KLAARTJE QUIRIJNS
If you would like to screen this film at an educational, professional or community event or venue, please contact screenings@dartmouthfilms.com.
Date of Completion: 2019 | Run Time: 75 minutes | Languages: English & Dutch| Director: Klaartje Quirijns | Writers: Klaartje Quirijns, Boris Gerrets | Editor: Boris Gerrets| Cinematography: Klaartje Quirijns, Jason Brooks, Richard van Oosterhout, Antonio Ferrera | Producers: Pieter van Huijstee, Margie Monfils
After 17 years of documenting one man's struggle to heal from a generational wound, Klaartje Quirijns turns the camera on herself to reveal her own family's devastating trauma. Kirkland Vaughans—one the few African-American Freudian therapists in the United States—guides us through the complex workings of the mind, showing how easily we can be "colonised" by the behaviour of our parents. But in explaining these recurring patterns, he can't help but be drawn into exploring his own painful past as well. Using a wealth of home movies and archival images—as well as taped therapy sessions—YOUR MUM AND DAD: A DEVASTATING TRUTH explores recurring behavioural themes and raises individual cases into a universal pattern of experience. These stories enter the minds of the viewers and provide a mirror with which they can see the pain and triumphs of their own lives.
