ROCKS IN MY POCKETS

AKMENI MANAAS KABATAAS

By Signe BAUMANE

VOSTAO - as FEST

Animation - Completed 2014

Personal story of animator Signe Baumane about the woman from her family, including herself, and their battles with madness. The film is packed with visual metaphors, surreal images and her twisted sense of humour.

Festivals
& Awards

Karlovy Vary IFF 2014
Official Selection - Competition
San Sebastian FF 2014
Zabaltegi - Tabakalera
Busan - BIFF/APM 2014
Flash Forward
    • Year of production
    • 2014
    • Genres
    • Animation, First film, Documentary
    • Countries
    • LATVIA, USA
    • Languages
    • ENGLISH
    • Duration
    • 93 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Signe BAUMANE
    • Writer(s)
    • Signe BAUMANE
    • Producer(s)
    • Signe BAUMANE
    • Synopsis
    • Latvia, the late 1920’s. Anna, a young woman, pretty and educated, falls in love with an adventurous entrepreneur, 30 years her senior. But with marriage comes great jealousy, and the entrepreneur hides Anna away in the forest, far from other men, where she bears him eight children. The Great Depression hits them hard. Then Latvia is overrun with invasions by the Soviets, then the Nazis, then the Soviets once again. Anna is a pillar of strength, defying the hardships, raising her young, teaching them survival secrets of the forest. But something inside her is terribly wrong.
      Years later, Signe, a young artist, asks her father, “How did my grandmother die?” Her father is evasive. His seven siblings are evasive, as well. Signe strongly suspects that Anna committed suicide. Clues of mental illness had always leaked through the family stories. Signe suffers from depression herself. Three of her cousins, all women, battle madness, as well. Could there be a link between Anna and the four granddaughters?
      Defying the stigma that silences so many, Signe takes us on a journey deep into her own depression where she looks to confront the family demons. But, unlike her cousins, Signe finds an assuring guide in animation and art.