Dad and Me

It does not surprise us anymore: documentary filmmakers exposing their whole private life to the camera. But in PAPPA OCH JAG, debuting filmmaker Linda Västrik takes it one step further than what we are used to. At first sight, the film looks like an autobiographic documentary about a not so unusual subject: the director tries to find her father, whom she has not seen since her parents separated some twenty-five years ago. It is soon clear why: her father disputes his (biological) paternity. In front of the camera, his daughter forces him to do a DNA test. Without showing any feelings of shame or restraint, she goes on to register the painful consequences of her compulsive need for certainty. But the reproaches she heaps upon her parents are returned just as vigorously. Linda Västrik (1972) studied at the ICP in New York, the Chicago Art Institute and the Stockholm Film Academy. PAPPA OCH JAG is her first film.