I thought of setting up my own firm because I knew a lot of people in the technical and economic fields who managed factories and plants, like Automatica and so on, where I could get some solid orders. Thus I went on with my plans. I worked with rented equipment and with cameras that were only half paid for ? I worked in the field of bank restoration, then I worked for the construction company in charge with the bank restoration. And orders kept coming in during a considerable period of time ? The restoration of the Romanian Commercial Bank, of Exim Bank ? I filmed the restoration procedures, meaning mending the interiors of the banks, broadening and transformations, the exteriors ? I took footage of the stages of these repairing procedures. This was how the construction company managed to get new orders. I had already worked with them on other films at ?Sahia? Studio and now they invited me to film the bank restorations for them. There was a whole series of buildings done by reputable companies for the International Bank of Religions and other banks as well. People knew me already and called for me whenever they needed. I got more orders, I made some films for CFR, and one for the Museum in Deva ? I mean I went on making films. And I also handled other things. I tried to accumulate money like a bee would honey ? I learnt the lesson my bees had taught me. I also worked for the electoral campaign of PSD1 because I had seen the mistakes the coalition, the CDR2 had made before ? When I saw the stupid, utterly idiotic things they had done, I said to myself that the others would win the elections and maybe they had got smarter since they last lost political power. And I worked for this electoral campaign and I even supported the former mayor of District 1 who looked like a very serious man to me. I thought that better times would follow. I have no regrets about it because I did my job in earnest and I praised nothing of what was not praiseworthy. It?s true that one of the films showed Iliescu saying that we shouldn?t replace their corrupt people with ours and I approved of what he said. I allowed myself to include the statement in a film I made. Perhaps that was what Iliescu thought, but facts must have been different. And so they were. When their corrupt people started pouring in from all over the place, I was a little ashamed of myself, but there was nothing I could do. That?s how things were and unfortunately I was part of what happened. I think I also worked for the Democratic Coalition back in 1996 ? In the field of documentary films one is happy with one?s work if the film is truthful, meaning that things are as they really are ? You start being unhappy when you see that things will get exactly as ordered ? But you say to yourself, hey, he?s the client, I do as he tells me to do. The documentary I would have loved to make would have looked very different, but I couldn?t make it. The documentary films I used to make were actually very different because then I would do as I pleased. Documentary films teach you to know and especially to be willing to admit that this country is beautiful precisely because of its people. You cannot make a documentary without including people in it. And these people are and must be beautiful. You have to understand them. And your understanding of them influences your mind too. You can?t live your life begging and asking for mercy, you can?t lie to people unless you yourself are superficial and eager to climb the social ladder as quickly as possible. God kept me somewhat safe from such things ? Translated by Alina Popescu |
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