The Linen

Latvian director Laila Pakalnina is primarily known for the surrealist tone and the special use of sound in her films. Her films ask a lot of the viewer, are meditative and pose important questions that call up different emotions. Her documentaries often give an alienating look at everyday life. Although at first glance her subjects might seem boring and monotone, there is always a richer and subtler reality lurking somewhere that she patiently brings to the surface. is a silent dissertation on the daily life of a truck driver who delivers clean linens to a children's hospital. He unloads the sheets and divides them up among the wards, where small, gripping dramas of life and death are unfolding. And every day it's the same story.