My Sweet Elora

My Sweet Elora reveals the hidden stories that have lain dormant within a family for generations. Through film and photography, Luuk van Raamsdonk breaks open inherited patterns and makes visible what has long remained unspoken.

In 1970, van Raamsdonk’s grandfather disappeared without a trace for three months. He returned without explanation. More than 50 years later, van Raamsdonk’s father had an affair. The fact that he was named after Yuri Zhivago – the protagonist of Doctor Zhivago, a film cherished by his grandfather – only amplifies the echo. Zhivago too lives between loyalty and desire, and his love affair throws his world into upheaval.

During his search for answers about his grandfather’s mysterious disappearance, van Raamsdonk finds a clue in the family archives leading to Elora, a small village in Canada where his grandfather had a secret relationship at the time. To better understand this history, he travelled to Elora himself, capturing the landscape along with speculative memories and traces of his grandfather.

My Sweet Elora unfolds as a layered visual archive of photographs, family VHS tapes and scenes from Doctor Zhivago, rhythmically interwoven with the voice of van Raamsdonk’s grandfather.

– Eva Langerak

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