About the film

80% of European Christmas trees are grown in Denmark from seeds collected in a small region of Georgia. The seeds are harvested every autumn in Georgia and then sold to the Danish, who grow the seedlings for seven years before selling them across Europe. The Georgian firs grow as tall as 60 meters, and to reach the best cones, the pickers have to climb to the very top. Sometimes, they lose their balance and fall. This documentary follows the joys and sorrows of both Danish and Georgian communities involved in this process.

Logline

The Christmas tree, the well familiar festive plant, the princess of all the trees travels through countries and cultures, while the joyful hustle and bustle hides a billion-dollar business and the characters’ daily
struggle for survival.

Synopsis

If you stop a passerby in a European town and tell them that most of the festive trees originate in
Georgia, they would be surprised – often the nice and bushy Christmas trees are labelled as Danish, and
no one is aware of their Georgian origin. The European Christmas tree industry alone is worth almost 3
billion euros a year. Surprisingly, as much as 80% of European production is provided by the small
Racha region. Meanwhile, most local families live on less than €10 a day.

This social drama is an observation of two different communities. Both of them, one in Denmark, and
the other in Georgia are in Christmas tree businesses. As we observe their lives, we experience the joys
and sorrows of the local people and witness differences and similarities between cultures. The lives of
the communities are very different despite both living in Europe. The Danish Christmas tree growers
belong to the middle class in wealthy Northern Europe. The Georgians live in a remote mountainous
poor part of Georgia, exhausted by several wars and a painful transfer from the Soviet regime to democracy.

We can see many things in common between them, but as long as we dive into their lives we discover a
huge separation between living conditions, attitudes and mentality. The seeds of the fir cones are
harvested every autumn in Georgia and then sold to the Danish, who grow the seedlings for 7 years to
sell them across Europe. The Georgian firs grow as tall as 60 meters, and to reach the best
cones, the pickers have to climb to the very top. Sometimes they lose their balance and fall.
We follow the life of a Christmas tree from cone picking in Georgia and fir plantations in Denmark to its
death in a waste container.

Life and Death of a Christmas Tree is an ensemble cast film, featuring people we met on the Christmas tree trail – cone pickers in Georgia mountains, seasonal Lithuanian woodcutters in Denmark, Danish Christmas tree farmers. In the finale, the episodes of the annual shopping rush encourage us to reflect
on the meaning of this festive day, which has now become the apotheosis of consumerism.
Is it worth the lost lives of Georgian cone pickers?

The film makes the audience both laugh and cry. The film delivers full-scale emotions for the audience,
from nostalgic childhood memories to compassion for the poor cone pickers.

We are looking for festivals and sales.
With inquiries, please contact: producer Ringailė Leščinskienė, email: ringaile@zerocopy.lt, phone: +37067789371

“The life of a tree is full of twists and turns… Life and Death of a Christmas Tree is a jack-of-all-trades
type of film because it delivers on several aspects of documentary filmmaking. It’s predominantly an
observational film but one that also has a reflexive tone with its slow unwinding of the narrative, and
yet, there’s an episodic feel to it because of the incorporation of several different stories that might
seem out of place, and that’s when the effect of juxtaposition comes into play. It really is a
wonderfully entertaining film though, with so many feathers to its bow that allow it to excel on a
variety of different fronts. Still, maybe its best quality is how informative and interesting it becomes as
you absorb the entire process from birth to death.” – John McDonald for Dirty Movies

“So many fates, scenes and moods, and just life itself, can be found in “Life and Death of a Christmas Tree.” – Ruta Oginskaite

“I won’t be surprised if from now on the flashbacks of A. Evdokimov’s newest film “The Life and Death of the Christmas Tree”, which premiered at the Spring Day Film Festival, will be with me when I’ll be sitting at the Christmas table.” – Monika Gimbutaitė