First Class Citizen
Documentary/ Sweden/ 57 min/ 2021
Director/Writter: Diana Maria Olsson
Production: Zen Division
Distribution: JMT Film
Synopsis:
“First-Class Citizen” is a Swedish-Lithuanian documentary about power and control from the micro (family) to the macro (country) level. This documentary is a wake-up call to all of us who care. In the film, Diana Maria Olsson shares her most intimate experiences from a violent relationship and at the same time challenges the image of Sweden as a country that respects gender equality.
The story of a husband who turns out to be the eponymous ‘first-class citizen’ exposes the mechanisms of hypocrisy. The director not only works through her own story but also collects common experiences of women in similar situations. The director and narrator’s motivation to inspire women to have the courage to leave abusive relationships goes beyond the framework of a self-documentary. First Class Citizen becomes the beginning of a multi-voiced indictment of patriarchy.
Director’s biography:
Diana Maria Olsson was born on July 6, 1983, in Lithuania. Diana has double master’s and double bachelor’s degrees – in directing, journalism, public relations, and visual culture. She held her degrees at Vilnius University of Lithuania and Lund University of Sweden. She has also studied a civilization course at Sorbonne University.
In 2019 she made a Swedish music documentary: “Flickan Flaskan och Fostelandet” (The Girl, The Bottle and The Motherland”), which was fully funded by Swedish National Television (SVT). She is a founder of a film production company “Zen Division” (2018, Sweden), and the president of the organization “Child and Family in Focus” (2021, Sweden).