What it must be like to live in a poor family in a small village in Romania’s northeast? We can ask Mihai, one of the ten children of a hard-working couple who is trying to educate all of their offspring. They have managed to send five of them to schools in the town; sadly, Mihai had to give up the seminary and return to the village, where he is helping his family to farm what little land they own. Since he intends to return to his studies next year, he uses every free moment to study for the exams. He tells us about his brief staying in the town and how students from rural areas are marginalized. Interestingly, staying at home is also awkward for him, because he does not feel like he truly belongs here and he wants to leave.
Laurenţiu Calciu
Laurenţiu Calciu was born and grew up in Bucharest. When the Revolution came he was a Math teacher. Soon after, he got hold of a VHS camera and started filming the new democracy emerging in the Bucharest streets in 1990. Since capturing real life on film was obviously his passion, he decided to pursue it professionally and in 1991 was admitted to the National Film and Television School in UK, where he was awarded a Post Graduate Diploma in Documentary Filmmaking. After graduating in 1995 he returned to Romania for a couple of years to teach documentary filmmaking. He made the award winning documentary ‘The Land is Waiting’ (screened at ZagredDox). He is very passionate about the Roma, their way of life and culture and decided to study the Romani language.
General sponsor
Mamaliga te asteapta
Romania
2005, 59', color, video
Directed by:
Laurenţiu Calciu
Cinematography:
Laurentiu Calciu
Edited by:
Horia Marusca
Producer:
Rupert Wolfe Murray
Produced by:
Productive International Romania
