THE PROFESSIONAL PARENT

  • Director

    Erik Jasaň

  • Country, Year, Length

    Romania / Slovakia, 2024, 14:30

  • Category

    Narrative Short

  • Format

    Digital 4k ARRI ALEXA LF

  • Festival Year

    2025

Synopsis

Ingrid, a single mother living with her daughter and grandmother in an eastern Slovak village where Roma face stigma, becomes a professional parent to a Roma girl to survive.

Film Screening & Ticket Information

When & Where to See this Film!

BLOC: Change of Pace: 6 Films that change the story into an unexpected truth.

KAS Zukor Theatre
2:45pm Sunday, November 16th

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Film Information

From the Director

Director Statement

I grew up in a household with two Roma children, as my sister became a professional parent. Around 2015, at the same time my sister started working as a professional parent, a horrifying event shook Slovakia: the murder of a one-year-old Roma girl by her professional foster father. The autopsy revealed that the child could not have caused the injuries herself – she had bruises on her head, internal bleeding, and torn intestines. This event affected not only my family, but Slovak society as a whole.
The tragedy raised questions about the system of professional foster parenting. In
Slovakia, it is paid work – professional foster parents take care of children in their own households and receive a monthly salary for it. The majority of children who enter professional foster families are of Roma origin. In eastern Slovakia, where economic hardship has persisted for a long time, becoming a professional foster parent often meant a way out of financial difficulties. But when people with hidden racist tendencies enter the system, it can end in disaster.
The film is not only about professional foster care, but also about moral choices within a system that offers few alternatives. It is a story that reveals how society actually works, showing that people who think they are not racist often expose their prejudices in everyday life. The film also reflects on how inflation and poverty push families into situations where morality becomes a luxury. It is a sad and cruel reality, not only in Slovakia.
The main character, Ingrid, at first appears to be a loving mother willing to cross moral boundaries – working in a grocery store during the day and prostituting herself at night to give her biological child a better life. Her intentions seem sincere, but gradually, as the story unfolds, her hidden racism comes to light, and Ingrid transforms into an anti-heroine.

I wanted to shoot the film in a very subjective style, focusing on the individual and their circumstances, inviting the audience to experience the story through Ingrid’s eyes. I believe art is deeply subjective, interpreted through the emotions and experiences each of us carries. This philosophy led me to tell the story as subjectively as possible –through the intimate events surrounding Ingrid, the way we often perceive our own lives– from just one point of view.

With the film Professional Parent, I want to reach people who may find themselves in a similar struggle – to remind them that moral boundaries and a clear conscience arestro nger than the future hardships they may face.
Erik Jasaň, director & screenwriter

Director Biography

Erik Jasaň is a Slovak director, screenwriter, and producer whose work addresses sensitive social issues. His debut The Professional Parent is qualified for the 98th OSCARS in the LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM category. Film was screened at the Short Film Corner of the 78th FESTIVAL DE CANNES and received an Honorable Mention at the OSCAR®-qualifying 44th Thomas Edison Film Festival. The film was selected by multiple OSCAR®-qualifying festivals including 50th ODENSE FF, 23rd TIRANA IFF, 53 rd HUESCA FF, 41th ST KIDLA FF, 20th HOLLYSHORTS FF, 17th BALINALE, 24th LEBU IFF and 11th ALEXANDRIA SFF. As a non-film school student, he directed several short films and supported fellow filmmakers, creating student films under his direction that were included in official selections qualifying for the AMERICAN OSCARS, the 37th OUT ON FILM: ATLANTA’S LGBTQ FF, and the 8th BENGALURU ISFF. With his project THREE BURNED BODIES, he won the Pitching Forum at the 21st FEST – New Directors/New Film Festival in Espinho, Portugal.

Credits

    • Erik Jasaň
      Director
      Official Selection at Academy Awards Oscar Qualifying Festivals: Bengaluru, Cine Lebu, HollyShorts, Balinale, Thomas Edison Film Festival, St Kidla Film Festival, International Alexandria Short Film Festival, Huesca International Film Festival
    • Erik Jasaň
      Writer
    • Marta Parlatore
      Writer
      Official selections at the Cannes, Clermont and Oberhausen festivals
    • Erik Jasaň
      Producer
    • Marian Crisan
      Producer
      Palm d’Or 2008 (Festival de Cannes)
    • Ela Lehotská
      Key Cast
      “Ingrid”
    • Oľga Solárová
      Key Cast
      “Grandma”
    • Klára Sviteková
      Key Cast
      “Martinka”
    • Mariana Kroková
      Key Cast
      “Samantha”
    • Andrej Šoltés
      Key Cast
      “Director”
    • Tudor Mircea
      Director of Photography
      His work includes feature films selected in prestigious International Film Festivals: Cannes ( won: Palme d’Or in 2008 for “Megatron”, Un certrain talent in 2015 for “The Treasure”) Locarno (won: Don Quixote Award in 2010), New York Film Festival, Toronto, San Sebastian. Works as cinematographer for TV Seriers ( HBO – The Silent Valley, by director Marian Crisan), Documentaries (Infinite Fotbal, by director Corneliu Porumboiu, 2018) Short films (Megatron, by director Marian Crisan, 2008)
    • Catalin Cristutiu
      Editor
      Films edited by Cătălin Cristuțiu have been screened at prestigious film festivals such as Berlinale, the Busan International Film Festival, the Locarno Film Festival.
    • Pavol Jeňo
      Sound
    • Ivan Horák
      Sound Design
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