A Film By: Andriana Mereuta

Concept Development, Creative Direction, Research, Analysis, Collection of Archival Materials, Interviewing, Voice Over, Filming, Editing, Producing

Co-Director / Co-Producer: Cesar Loayza

Creative Direction, Storyboarding, Filming

“A Hyphenated Identity” short film explores the notion of national identity and how it shifts through the course of three generations of Moldovans. It marks three distinct milestones of the country’s journey:

I. under the Soviet Union rule (1812-1991)

II. the transition to its independence (1991-1993)

III. current times of democracy (1993 - Now)

About

This is my first attempt at making a short documentary as part of my film class at ITP | NYU. I decided to pursue a topic close to my heart and a theme that makes me curious as someone who lives away from home for over a decade and constantly shifting her sense of identity.

Cesar Loayza is my ITP colleague and friend. He is from Peru and he’s a visual artist and storyteller. We co-produced and co-directed this little project with the intention to use it as research material for further development of the theme into a more comprehensive film later considering other countries with a similar ‘make-up’.

We posed a few questions about national identity, in this case referring to Moldovans, yet the intention is to see if this material is relatable to other nations as well and see what are some commonalities in terms of national identity formation and how that applies to the individual.

1. What does national identity mean?

2. How does that impact your sense of self (individual identity)?

3. Why do we need one?

We spoke with Moldovan historian Igor Casu as he’s an expert in Moldovan, Romanian and Soviet Union studies as well as national identity.

Historical milestones in Moldova’s way to its independence, 1812 - 1991.

Logline

“Governed by Time” \ “A nation in search of Identity” is a documentary short exploring the notion of national identity and how it shifts through the course of three generations of Moldovans marking three distinct milestones of the country’s journey under the Soviet Union rule (1812-1991), the transition to its independence (1991-1993), and current times of democracy (2023).

Initial Proposal

The story is an investigation of different accounts of Moldovans’ sense of identity through the lens of few individuals representing different age groups, ethnicities, and geo locations. The country has struggled to shape its own narrative about national identity, and as a result Moldovans own sense of national identity, as throughout history the country has been divided, traded, and since subject to outside influences (Russia), and internal discord (corrupt figures, unionists, or melancholic individuals for communist times).

The film will start with current time events as the country is facing the effects of the Russian’s war in Ukraine (neighboring country), a refugee crisis (Moldova is home to over 100.000 Ukrainian refugees) energy crisis (due to Russia’s ceasing of gas resources and energy shortages from the Ukraininan electrical powers), over 36% inflation, and more recently - the efforts of certain political actors (Russian backed) to undermine and overthrow the current pro European / pro democracy government.

The film’s protagonists are 2-3 elderly Moldovans with different views on national identity who lived mostly under communist rule, 2 middle age persons in their late 30s-40s who lived through both regimes and underwent the turbulent times of transition, and two teenagers in their early 20s who have no recollection of past times. The interviews will be conducted on zoom. Ideally, for contrast, there would be 2 additional persons from diaspora (mid age) in the United States who emigrated when the Soviet Union collapsed and the borders opened - the place of freedom, democracy, and human values.

The 10 min film will include archival footage, images, and voiceover.

The final interviews will be edited for quotes and posted on social media as a tool for further research to gauge the response and fervor of the audience (FB, IG, TikTok, and Telegram).

CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND

This theme is of personal interest to me as I’ve been investigating and documenting my home country for over four years. Yet, when the war in Ukraine started a year ago, February 2022, I felt we could be the next on Russia’s list. And that possibility is more admitted today than ever before, with Russian leaders threatening if not every day that Moldova is playing with fire for siding with Romania and NATO forces for defense, for seeking European integration and collaborating with the West, for instigating (according to them) the Russians living in Transnistria and demanding sovereignty of the region, for not working with Russia but against it. As these macro economic and political forces are shaping the events in the country, the divide amongst people is growing and deepening. Russians, Gagauz, and some other minorities siding with Russia see the current government as enemy and propagate narratives that they are disproportionately discriminated, that the government wants war with Russia, that they are not wanted in Moldova. Some Moldovans who are melancholic about the “good, old times” when there was bread on the table, work in the country, and families being together at home - blame it on the West for bringing all this freedom and chaos that left the country with a massive population displacement (for economic opportunity) and finding solutions on their own on how to make a living and meet the ends. Thus the protests organized by some corrupt figures who organize the people from rural areas to come to the capital and create disorder and more division among each other.

It would be interesting to me to hear people’s reasonining behind their desires, views, and fears, and maybe even the solutions they see viable in this context. Perhaps people could sense that what we all want the same thing: peace, prosperity and family but disagree on how to get there? Perhaps in listening we could grow in empathy? Perhaps by answering who are we and where do we think we belong, we can find a renewed sense of identity as individuals and as a nation as well.

How will you tell this story and why you?

This story will include one interview of a renowned Moldovan historian who dedicated important works to the theme of national identity including his doctorate thesis and a series of books on the topic. Aside from referencing his perspective on national identity [worldwide through case studies and more specifically in Moldova], the film will also include some archival footage and still images from the filmmaker’s documentary project “Moldova - An Iconogoraphy of the Land and Its People.”

The film ideally would include visual references to the elements of national identity mentioned by the historian, music and/or sound, and quotes.

The final piece would be broadcasted / shared on social media as a research tool to see how it engages the various communities within Moldovan and diaspora, and to gauge their responses, emotions, overall attitude relating to this topic. The results will help better understand the direction we (the production/creative team) will take as we proceed to produce a feature film on the topic. It will also serve as a promotional piece for raising funds and media promotion.

Why me? I’m a Moldovan living away from Moldova for more than a decade and have the privilege to observe the dynamics happening in my country from a somewhat remote position while also feeling more deeply for my country and the beautiful things that represent it. Also, I'm part of a generation that had experienced both government structures - a perspective that is distinct from the generation before me (my parents) and after me (my nephews). What makes this story compelling is the generational aspect of it and how we people become an extension of the past holding the power of what is and the potential of (through our actions) what it can be, and what we can offer to the future generation.

PROCESS:

From the initial idea of interviewing multiple people, due to time constraints and logistics, we resumed to interviewing only one expert and find creative ways to tell the story through a personal lens yet captivating enough for an international audience. The task was to make an educational, engaging film for an international audience to learn about a foreign country, but also about the concept of national identity and then reflect back on their own identity by becoming aware and taking into account the forces that play out on its formation, and thus our formation in the environments to which we belong.

One of the challenges was how to (1) make an international audience interested in learning about Moldova, (2) how to make something historical interesting, not alike what one could already find on YouTube; (3) and how to move away from the stereotypical story on what Moldova is known for - the poorest country in Europe. Had to design ways to fill in the gaps of historic facts by brining up a map, visualizing historic milestones, identifying the heroes and the villains and the illustrations of who they were, finding visual stimuli by adding more cultural context so the film could become more of an educational piece for conversation not just an interesting facts layout.

Because most of the film was based on one interview (a lot of talking over a Zoom window) another task was how to discern the most important take-a-ways and find how to illustrate visually parts of the story without saying it, applying the ‘show, don’t tell’ paradigm. As a storyteller, this is the most compelling to tackle. Then take myself, as a storyteller - knowing about the subject, and put myself in the shoes of the audience - who knows nothing about the matter, and design the story in a way that makes light of what I’m trying to convey.

“Think of it as i don’t know what the fuck i’m talking about (laugh) “ - Eric, Ph.D.

I presented the rough cut [10 min version] and got feedback, which we then incorporated into the final cut (adding visuals, context, editing content, camera angles, transitions, sound, voice over, etc). Most of the hard work in making a documentary, is cutting down the information and distilling it to the most important, cutting the irrelevant, redundant, and less interesting parts. The final [15 min] presents that edited version that includes also my personal story and developing photographic work on national identity.

SKILLS I’VE ACQUIRED / HONED:

• research archival footage, read and synthesize the works of authors studying the subject, sound design, etc.

• team work and collaboration: we held weekly storyboard meetings, brainstorming, concept development sessions crafting the final narrative into something compelling to a wider audience.

• the art of interviewing and copy editing relevant information from hours of footage (captioning the content) to weave a comprehensive story;

• the art of editing: blending archival footage, stills, voice over, b-roll, etc. as well as lighting, camera angles, color treatment, transitions, etc., in Adobe Premiere Pro to make an engaging 15 min short.

• storytelling in a video documentary form, finding creative ways to fill in the historic gaps and give context to the audience. The white board was strategic to emphasize the academic perspective through which the story is presented.

• producing a documentary film from soft skills (managing the project and working with people) to hard skills (equipment, software, etc.);

• writing (longline, synopsis, concept according to archival records and creative approach to tell a personal story in a historic context)

• presenting the idea to an international audience immersing them into an unknown world and helping them see it through a universal lens.

• lead / project management: effective communication between the parties (instructor, expert, colleague, as well as people helping with retrieving archival content), scheduling meetings, setting weekly goals and meeting deadlines, timely delivery of the final project;

• lead / creative direction: coming up with idea, polishing concept, research, visual storyboarding, editing rough cut, implementing feedback, producing the final product.