Katka

At 19 years old, it seemed so simple: get off drugs and just start living. But in the 13 years that followed, getting clean proved to be anything but easy for a Czech girl named Katka. Filmmaker Helena Trestikova follows Katka in her uphill battle to get off heroin. Even though we regularly witness Katka changing her mind yet again or in the midst of a bad trip, this is not a documentary about drugs. It is about the search for happiness, peace and freedom. Trestikova captures touching moments, such as when Katka jumps into a fountain with all her clothes on. In these scenes, we see a beautiful, healthy woman hiding behind the shroud of addiction - a woman who makes one attempt after another to kick the habit, always in good spirits. As the film progresses, we get dragged along in the powerlessness, hope and frustration of Katka and her boyfriend, and we realize that they will not be living happily ever after. Even Katka begins to see how helpless she is in the face of the drugs. She hopes that getting pregnant will give her enough strength to stop, but once her daughter is born, she must come to grips with the fact that things have only gotten worse.