Traumatic childhood
WHEN Australian filmmaker Sophia Turkiewicz was seven years old, her Polish mother abandoned her in an Adelaide orphanage.
Sophia never forgot this maternal act of betrayal. Now in middle age, Sophia discovers the story behind her mother Helen’s miraculous wartime escape from a Siberian gulag, her subsequent survival against the odds and the truth about a historic betrayal involving Stalin and the Allies.
This is the story behind Turkiewicz’s new film, Once My Mother, which was released nationally on July 24.
With Helen sliding into dementia, Sophia must confront her own demons and decide whether to forgive her.
The film’s producer is Jewish filmmaker Rod Freedman, well known for his movies Uncle Chatzkel, One Last Chance – War Criminal, Welcome to the Waks Family and Wrong Side of the Bus.
Once My Mother is currently screening.
PHOTO: Filmmaker Sophia Turkiewicz and an image of her mother in Once My Mother.
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