Ketevan Vashagashvili, Bulgaria / Germany / Georgia, 2025, 80 min., documentary, original version with English subtitles
Zhana has freed herself from homelessness. However, despite having two jobs, she still lives in poverty with her teenage daughter Elene in Tbilisi. In order to give her daughter, whom she loves more than anything, a better life, she also offers her services as a surrogate mother. In doing so, she is left defenseless against the risks of the unregulated Georgian market: shady agencies that exploit women and cheat them out of their money, as well as unreliable prospective parents who threaten or abandon them. Added to this is the social stigma that defames her as a “child seller” and strains her close relationship with Elene. How openly can she talk to her daughter about her “side job,” and how will Elene deal with it—including the consequences that repeated surrogacy has for Zhana’s health and their life together?
9-MONTH CONTRACT celebrated its world premiere at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen and its German premiere in the Crossing Boundaries competition series at DOK.fest Munich. The film was shown for the first time in Berlin as part of the International Documentary and Media Festival Berlin (Documentale).
