MY BELOVED CHILD (MITT ELSKEDE BARN)

Yellowed family photos and super-8 footage show images of an innocent family life. A little girl with long plaited blond hair smiles shyly at the camera, a cute little white kitty on her shoulder. Two little girls in short summer dresses walk hand in hand across a flowery meadow: pictures that suggest a carefree childhood. But under the surface lies something monstrous, incomprehensible and unspeakable. Sigrid Beate Edvardsen who is now thirty-three was raped by her father over a period of ten years during her childhood and teenage years. As a young woman, she killed her father with the help of her sister who was also abused. For this crime, she was given a sentence of seven years in prison. We meet Sigrid Beate Edvardsen during her last days of freedom before going to jail. Through one-on-one interviews, the terrible past becomes present again. During this time, she must also say goodbye to her little son and her longtime companion. What emerges is a portrait of an exceptionally strong woman and the terrible insight that sexual abuse continues to torture the victim long after the actual physical abuse ends.

Award: Honorary Mention, Norwegian Short Film Festival Grimstad 2003