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The authors of the film learned about Paula Thysenkopf’s battle with cancer during her exhibition “Paštročņi” at the Laube House, which was a real artistic achievement, a courageous story of a very young woman about her self-awareness in illness, on attempts to overcome it and cope with the new reality of life.
“After visiting this exhibition, Henrietta had the idea of making a film about Paula, because she talks very openly about cancer. She doesn’t hide, she doesn’t back down and she really says what she thinks, which is very, very respectable.” , says director Andrejs Verhoustinskis.
The action of the documentary takes place shortly after the end of the treatment, however, the life of the protagonist is still filled with medical examinations, MRIs and hormone therapy.
After her recovery, Paula begins a new life, as witnessed by the authors of the film: a new home, new relationships, new projects and new challenges, including a week-long mountain climb in Nepal.
Paula gets to know herself again and the audience gets to know Paula together with her children, sister and parents.
The film’s script was written by Henrietta Verhoustinska, wife of director Andrejs Verhoustinska, the music was written by her daughter Katrína Anna Verhoustinska.
Andrejs admits: “As authors, we allowed ourselves to be sentimental in this film. We have to admit that creating this documentary story was a very personal experience, because
my mother, oncologist Vaira Verhoustinska, died of cancer at the age of 42, but she became a doctor because both of her parents died prematurely from this disease.”
