SILVER

[TIPOGRAFIC MAJUSCUL]
In 1981, chalk slogans written in uppercase letters started appearing in public spaces in the Romanian city of Botoşani. They demanded freedom, alluded to the democratic developments taking place in Romania's socialist sister countries or simply called for improvements in the food supply. The culprit was Mugur Călinescu, a teenager still in school whose case is documented in the files of the Romanian secret police. Theatre director Gianina Cărbunariu created a documentary play based on this material. Award-winning filmmaker Radu Jude (AFERIM!, BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN) deftly adapts the play, skillfully adding archival footage from Romanian TV of the era. Cooking shows alternate with interrogations, transcripts of wiretapped phone calls with recommendations to exercise instead of taking sedatives. This dialectical montage creates a portrait of a dictatorial surveillance state, drawing on the authorized popular entertainment of the Ceaușescu regime in order to unmask it. Official Selection, 2020 Berlin Film Festival. DIR/SCR Radu Jude; SCR Gianina Cărbunariu; PROD Ada Soloman. Romania, 2020, color/b&w, 128 min. In Romanian with English subtitles. NOT RATED

No AFI Member passes accepted.