ALL ABOUT MY FATHER

Lots of interesting questions get asked in ALL ABOUT MY FATHER, Even Benestad's probing documentary about his father Esben Benestad, a respected doctor and liberal politician in small-town Norway. Esben, however, has a second identity as Esther Pirelli, sex therapist, sometime actress and Norway's best-known transvestite. This deeply personal account indicates how Esben's penchant for cross-dressing led to the break up of his marriage to Even's mother. Sometimes comic and sometimes painful, it explores how Esben's drive for self-actualization effected, and even damaged, the lives of the filmmaker, his sister Elisabeth, their mother Liv, and Esben's new wife Elsa through archive family footage and video recordings of interviews with his father and other members of the family. Even notes, “It is important to show that my family is not unique there are many families like mine, and by making this film I hope others can see their families in perspective. In order to do this, I could not compromise – confrontation was both pertinent and meaningful to make this a genuine film.” Through its friendly openness and sensitive humor, the film acts as a tonic for the trauma of family life. Winner of the Teddy Award at the 2002 Berlin Film Festival. (In Norwegian with English subtitles)