The world of teenage girls is the focus of this story of an unfortunate Russian family that relocates to Amsterdam. Economic straits force the mother into prostitution to provide for her daughters—trading one untenable situation for another. A potent condemnation of the barriers to the West faced by immigrants from former Soviet republics, Katia’s Sister was nominated for a Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival. 2008, 35mm, in Dutch and Russian with English subtitles, 85 minutes.
Mijke de Jong
, born in Rotterdam, trained as a social worker before going on to study at the Dutch Academy for Film and Television. Her feature films include Squatter’s Delight (In krakende welstand) (1990); Love Hurts (Hartverscheurend) (1993), which won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival; Broos (1997); Lopen (1999); and Stages (Tussenstand) (2007). She has also done prolific television work and has won a Crystal Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival for her 2004 TV movie Bluebird.
