I'm Glad That My Mother Is Alive

Adapted by Alain Le Henry (A Self-Made Hero, See How They Fall) from a real-life story and co-directed by Claude Miller and his son Nathan, I am Glad That My Mother is Alive explores childhood trauma and its dire consequences on adult life. Unbeknownst to his adoptive parents, troubled 18 year-old Thomas (newcomer Vincent Rottiers, also in Silent Voices and In the Beginning, both shown at COLCOA) searches for his birth mother, who abandoned him and his brother when they were very young. He finds her single, with a small child, living in a nearby suburb and introduces himself to her. Traumatized by years of emptiness and longing for his mother, he starts an ambiguous relationship with her, part courtship part obsession, which slowly drives him to an act of madness.

COLCOA / April 22 at 8:30pm
West Coast Premiere
In French with English subtitles

Directed by: Claude Miller, Nathan Miller
Written by: Alain Le Henry, Claude Miller, Nathan Miller
Based on a story by: Emmanuel Carrère
Cinematography by: Aurélien Devaux
Editing by: Morgane Spacagna
Music by: Vincent Segal
Produced by: Jean-Louis Livi
Production Company: F Comme Film
Coproduction: France 3 Cinéma, Orly Films, Page 114

CLAUDE MILLER started his career as assistant director to Robert Bresson, Jacques Demy and Jean-Luc Godard and served as production manager for François Truffaut (1968 to 1975). After a much-noticed debut feature The Best Way to Walk (1976), he turned to thrillers, with This Sweet Sickness (1977), adapted from a Patricia Highsmith novel, The Grilling (1981), César award for Best Screenplay and Deadly Circuit (1982). His subtle portraits of childhood and psychological torment have won critical acclaim: Louis Delluc award for L’Effrontée (1985), Jury Prize at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival for La Classe de Neige, International Critic’s Prize at the 2000 Berlinale for Of Woman and Magic (COLCOA 2000) and Grand Prix des Amériques at the 2007 Montreal World Film Festival for A Secret (COLCOA 2008)