LIFE AND DEATH OF A CHRISTMAS TREE

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LIFE AND DEATH OF A CHRISTMAS TREE

KALĖDŲ EGLUTĖS GYVENIMAS IR MIRTIS

By Arturas JEVDOKIMOVAS

ZERO COPY (NULINE KOPIJA) - as PROD

Documentary - Completed 2023

The Christmas tree, the well familiar festive plant, the princess of all the trees travels through countries and cultures, while the joyful hustle and bustle hides a billion-dollar business and the characters’ daily struggle for survival.

Festivals
& Awards

Tallinn Black Nights IFF 2023

Baltic Film Competition

Thessaloniki IFF 2024

Market Films

ArtDocFest International Documentary Film Festival 2024

Closing Film

Vilnius International Film Festival premiere 2024

Lithuanian Premiere

Lubuskie Film Summer 2024

International Competition

OKO International Etnographic Film Festival: Ukrainian Edition 2024

International Competition

FilmFestival Cottbus 2024

EcoEast Competition

Batumi International Art House Film Festival 2024

Georgian Premiere

- Year of production
- 2023
- Genres
- Documentary, Environmental, Drama
- Countries
- LITHUANIA, DENMARK, GEORGIA
- Languages
- LITHUANIAN, DANISH, GEORGIAN, ENGLISH
- Budget
- 0 - 0.3 M$
- Duration
- 84 mn
- Director(s)
- Arturas JEVDOKIMOVAS
- Producer(s)
- Ringailė LESCINSKIENĖ (ZERO COPY (NULINE KOPIJA))
- Synopsis
- If you stop a passerby in a European town and tell them that most of the festive trees originate in Georgia, they would be surprised – often the nice and bushy Christmas trees are labelled as Danish, and no one is aware of their Georgian origin. The European Christmas tree industry alone is worth almost 3 billion euros a year. Surprisingly, as much as 80% of European production is provided by the small Racha region. Meanwhile, most local families live on less than €10 a day.
  This social drama is an observation of two different communities. Both of them, one in Denmark, and the other in Georgia are in Christmas tree businesses. As we observe their lives, we experience the joys and sorrows of the local people and witness differences and similarities between cultures. The lives of the communities are very different despite both living in Europe. The Danish Christmas tree growers belong to the middle class in wealthy Northern Europe. The Georgians live in a remote mountainous poor part of Georgia, exhausted by several wars and a painful transfer from the Soviet regime to democracy.
  We can see many things in common between them, but as long as we dive into their lives we discover a huge separation between living conditions, attitudes and mentality. The seeds of the fir cones are harvested every autumn in Georgia and then sold to the Danish, who grow the seedlings for 7 years to sell them across Europe. The Georgian firs grow as tall as 60 meters, and to reach the best cones, the pickers have to climb to the very top. Sometimes they lose their balance and fall.
  We follow the life of a Christmas tree from cone picking in Georgia and fir plantations in Denmark to its death in a waste container.
  Life and Death of a Christmas Tree is an ensemble cast film, featuring people we met on the Christmas tree trail – cone pickers in Georgia mountains, seasonal Lithuanian woodcutters in Denmark, Danish Christmas tree farmers. In the finale, the episodes of the annual shopping rush encourage us to reflect on the meaning of this festive day, which has now become the apotheosis of consumerism. Is it worth the lost lives of Georgian cone pickers? The film delivers full-scale emotions for the audience, from nostalgic childhood memories to compassion for the poor cone pickers.