Metronom

Director Alexandru Belc actually wanted to make a documentary about the everyday existence of young people in the 1970s. At that time dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu was just returning from a trip to North Korea and China, where he was inspired by the ideas of the Cultural Revolution. While conducting research on the exiled DJ Cornel Chiriac, whose Metronome show on Radio Free Europe was cult listening amongst young people at the time, he stumbled across secret police plans to infiltrate the everyday lives of young people; this, in turn, gave rise to the idea of ​​telling a very different kind of story from the communist era. With very universal teenage prototypes like the boastful Silviu, a star among his friends because he knows the best Ceauşescu jokes and is acquainted with a French journalist who gets him new records; the reserved Ana, who knows very well what she wants but is held in check by her parents; and her crush Sorin, who pushes her to introversion with his overbearing indecisiveness. When the police break up one of the youngsters’ parties and take those present to the station for questioning, the weightlessness of youth finds itself overshadowed by questions of survival: a clear conscience or future prospects, friendship or collaboration. For some, both are possible...

Text: Bernd Buder

English: Peter Rickerby

Stadthalle: Original version with English subtitles + German simultaneous translation.

Weltspiegel Saal 2: Original version with English subtitles