Although witness to unspeakable horrors, eighty-five-year-old Svetlana Geier has dedicated her life to language. Considered the greatest translator of Russian literature into German, Svetlana has just concluded her magnum opus, completing new translations of Dostoyevsky’s five great novels—known as the five elephants. As a precocious teenager living in Ukraine with an unusual facility for languages, Svetlana was brought to the attention of her country's Nazi occupiers during World War II, and found uneasy refuge translating for them. She fled in 1943 and has never since returned … until now. The film interweaves the story of Svetlana’s early life with her literary work, and follows her on her first trip back to her homeland after nearly six decades away, all the while revealing how a love of language outshines all else.

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THE WOMAN WITH THE 5 ELEPHANTS
Aida Suliicic
Isabelle Stussi
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