Aurelia Pascal-Chisaru Documentary Film Treatment
Francesca Popa Angiolillo Mary
Documentary Film Treatment
Logline:
This is a documentary film about people who had to leave their home - Moldova - in search for a
better life. From what happened in the country that led to a poor economic and political situation
to how Moldovians are struggling abroad to support their children’s living costs.
Synopsis:
The film will start with a brief history of Moldova. Over the last few decades, life in the
Republic of Moldova has been a struggle for most of its citizens. Since the 1990’s, many people
had to leave the country in search for a job that would help maintain their family. Many mothers
had to leave their children with the grandparents in villages and many fathers could afford to see
their families once in five years. Many political events had happened since then, but the quality
of life is still so poor that many have no other choice than going abroad and seek a better life.
Students are looking for a fair education system, professionals cannot find a job that pays well
and seniors are having pensions as little as 10 euros. We will tell the story of some of those
people. One of them, Elena, a former professor and a mother of an 11 year-old boy, had to go to
Italy in 1999, after her husband died. She barely found a job as a cleaning lady and was living in
poor conditions so that she can send money back to his son: for his school, his uniform, books
and other expenses which his grandparents couldn’t afford. Andrei, a 37 years-old man, went to
Prague in 2006 to work as a builder - a job that he learned as a child when he was helping his dad
at a construction site. Many people in Moldova, especially outside of the capital, had and
continue to have a poor life. Communism during the Soviet Union left a black stain in people’s
Aurelia Pascal-Chisaru Documentary Film Treatment
Francesca Popa Angiolillo Mary
way of thinking. Despite the fact that the majority of the population have a pro-European view,
the government continues to steal from the people and to be corrupt, leaving many without
enough money for a living.
3. Main Characters
The main characters are Elena and Andrei. They will tell their stories and show us their new life.
Their story is special because it is a front-row view of the real consequences of the political
regimes. We will focus on their story to see the development from the beginning of their struggle
until the present day.
However, there will be many other people in short scenes that will tell brief experiences that
happened in their daily life.
4. Place
The main shooting locations will be in Moldova: the capital Chisinau; some villages, in order to
show the sad but real situations and the struggle of other people; the hometown of the main
characters; Italy and Czech Republic as the new homes of the protagonists in a contrast of what
we saw in Moldova.
5. Approach:
1. Dramatic approach:
The story will be told by the main characters in the form of a dynamic interview.
We will start with a dialogue and follow with a set of questions. Through this we want to make
the audience to imagine the situation (story) and meanwhile to grab their attention giving
information that will interest them.
Aurelia Pascal-Chisaru Documentary Film Treatment
Francesca Popa Angiolillo Mary
2. Visual approach:
In Media Res - we will start in the middle of the story, then go back to explain how and why it
got to that point of the story and continue the development till the end of the narrative. For
instance, the film can start with a scene where one of the main characters is working at a
construction and a scene with the life of the other main character. Then, we can go backwards to
the beginning of the story and from that point, follow the development.
The documentary film’s style will combined of direct and interactive. We will use voice-over to
explain the history, background of some characters and interactive style for the interviews part
where the characters will tell the story.
6. Project Details:
The film will be a feature documentary that is 80 minutes long and it meant for an online and TV
audience. The genre of the film is mixed - combining Expository genre and Interview.
The target audience includes some identified groups:
- Government officials
- Moldovian citizens
- Foreign officials
- Other foreign populations
