My Mother’s Garden

VANCOUVER PREMIERE! │ As a child in suburban Granada Hills, California, filmmaker Cynthia Lester realized something was wrong with her mother when school friends reported seeing her in the alley going through their dumpster. Born in Poland in 1944 and raised by an aunt who survived Auschwitz, Eugenia Lester grew up in an austere communist society. She immigrated to America in 1974, and faced poverty and depression while struggling as a single mother. Hoarding behaviour began to take over Eugenia’s life, eventually forcing her children to leave home at young ages to fend for themselves. Years later, Eugenia lives in her garden because there is literally no room left for her in a house stuffed with junk. When Eugenia is threatened with eviction and the demolition of her home, her daughter and three sons come together for the first time in their adult lives to try and cope with their mother’s disorder and rebuild a lost sense of family. Cynthia spirits her mother away to her own home in New York; the other children spend eight weeks removing tons of refuse from Eugenia’s home. When Eugenia returns, her reaction is not what they had hoped for . . . Screened at Hot Docs and at Slamdance (where it won Special Jury Honorable Mention for Documentary Features). Colour, Digibeta video, 70 mins. 

Post-screening discussion with Dr. Michael Passmore, Dr. Ingrid Sochting and Dr. Carolyn Steinberg.

Dr. Passmore is a Geriatric Psychiatrist with Providence Health Care in Vancouver. He has experience working with older adults who develop abnormal behaviour such as hoarding, usually in the context of late-life brain disorders such as dementia.

Dr. Sochting is the Chief Psychologist at Richmond Mental Health Outpatient Services and Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, UBC. She has been instrumental in developing a number of group therapy programs for mood and anxiety disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder in adults and adolescents who struggle with hoarding behaviour.

Dr. Steinberg is a Psychiatrist who specializes in Infant Preschool Child Psychiatry and sees patients aged 5 and younger with their families. She currently works in Richmond, where she started up the Early Childhood Mental Health Program and where she has encountered young children who hoard.