During the Covid-19 lockdown the director’s grandmother passed away. As he sifted through personal archives, he found an audio recording of her and some old photo albums. Composed entirely from photographs, this is the story of her life against the backdrop of the historical changes Romania have been through in the 20th century.

“Similar in form to Radu Jude’s potent Holocaust documentary, The Dead Nation (2017), this is primary history at its most simple and effective. The monochrome pictures are mostly carefully posed, yet capture the personalities of the sitters and the times in which they lived. It’s nicely done and should inspire anyone with a family archive to make their own photo-memoir.”

David Parkinson – Parky at the Pictures

Production year: 2020

Duration: 27 minutes

Director / Cinematographer / Producer: Vlad Petri

Sound design & mix: Vlad Voinescu

Production company: Activ Docs

Premiere: Jihlava International Film Festival (Czech Republic)

Awards: GOPO for Best Short Documentary (2021)