During Independence years, filmmaking progressed less than the country overall. It did not manage to have any ups and downs, it remained at the bottom. By comparison with the country, which “was charging ahead, full of hopes, towards the future”, filmmaking remained low and did not progress whatsoever, the head of the Moldovan Filmmakers’ Union Sergiu Prodan said in an interview for IPN.
According to Prodan, filmmaking was practically reduced to an amateurish level, but in a good sense of the word. Cinematography was left to the people who did it our of passion, not as a job. Over the last 25 years, everything that has been done is thanks to inertia. The state eliminated movies from social life and only periodically faked some initiatives in the field, which were unavoidably fruitless, explained the director.
He added that in Moldova, there is no local mechanism to sell a movie and for consumers to pay for it. All we have is a branch of the worldwide distribution system.
As concerns the long-awaited Film Law, Prodan says it has been reduced to a mere formality, an institution – the National Film Center. Moreover, this has been done only because the Center is meant to represent government interests in the field. “The institution now exists only de jure, while de facto we have only director Valeriu Jereghi’s efforts to do something, despite lacking the tools and legal powers he needs. We can’t be mad at this. You can be mad when you wanted to do something, when you tried, you put effort into it, when you had all the necessary support but you failed because there was competition and someone better than you succeeded. Then you are motivated, stimulated. However, in our case it’s not like this. No, everything is fine, nobody tried, nobody succeeded. The hopes are intact, future awaits us”, says Prodan.
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the declaration of Moldova’s Independence, IPN News Agency decided to depict the portrait of the current Republic of Moldova. For the purpose, it provoked a number of people, including state officials, politicians, businessmen, civil rights activists and persons without posts and titles, but who have what to say. The generic picture is entitled “Thoughts about and for Moldova” and articles have started to be published on July 18.
