CABBAGE, POTATOES AND OTHER DEMONS a film by Șerban Georgescu 1 village, 1.000 tractors, 100.000 tons of cabbages & potatoes each year, which are hardly sold and eventually destroyed. Is there any way out? This project is great. This is a story where you take an everyday subject and get the whole picture of the absurdities in agriculture financing within Europe. (OLAF GRUNERT, Commissioning Editor, ARTE) I like it very much. I think it is a very actual movie and with a high market potential. (BRANKO LUSTIG, Double Oscar winning producer of Schindler's List, Gladiator)
Synopsis In the Romanian village of Lunguletu, 1000 farmers on their tractors sit on 100.000 tons of cabbage in the local market, waiting for customers. At the end of the day they either sell for nothing or destroy their crops. Intrigued of getting 1 ton of cabbage for just EUR 20 townie Serban decides to spend one year in the village and work the land, to see why these people got into a deadlock and if there is any way out. The Mayor and some villagers have ideas and possible solutions. But can they overcome the farmers mistrusting each other, their fear of a collective farm and the powerful urge to compete? A satire of current realities in agriculture Europe narrated by the director himself, the film will tell from the inside and in a self-ironical tone the story of a village that got stuck in between past and present. Trailer @Vimeo facebook.com/cabbagepotatoesdemons
Team Director & Writer Producer Co-Producer Associate Producer Executive Producer Cinematography Editor Sound recording Sound mixing Original soundtrack Graphics & Design Script consultant Translation Production Co-production Broadcasters Co-funders International Distribution Romanian Distribution Șerban Georgescu Alex Iordăchescu Șerban Georgescu Heino Deckert Daniel Burlac Oana Muntean Bogdan Slăvescu Șerban Georgescu Alex Iosub Marian Iacoban Vlad Blîndu Rasterpoint Alex Alexandru Ana Boariu Adriana Hoancă Elefant Film (RO) Kolectiv (RO) Ma.ja.de. Filmproduktion (DE) MDR/Arte TVR Romania TV Estonia Creative Europe Media Programme Centrul Național al Cinematografiei România Deckert Distribution Ultraviolet Media Technical details Length Genre 60 min Release Date Spring 2016 Language Format/ Platforms Documentary Social Issues Romanian, with English subtitles TV version Dubbed in German, French DCP, Full HD Stereo Sound A documentary developed through Documentary Campus Masterschool 2013
Extended Synopsis Lunguletu is a village with statistics well worth of the Guinness Book of Records. In a community of 5,000 people there are almost 1,000 tractors, as almost each family in the village has bought their own. The village produces some 5% of the annual potato and 10% of the annual cabbage production of the whole country. Most of it gets buried. I, Serban, the director, follow the story of the villagers of Lunguletu for one year in an attempt to understand why these peasants families, apparently prosperous and with high chances to a good life, live in debt. Year after year each family plants potatoes they try to sell. They need the money to plant cabbage. Which they try to sell, because they need the money to plant potatoes. Apparently easy: they produce and want to sell. But none of them ventures too far. They all stay put and simply wait for the clients. During the communist regime, they were the heroes off the communist agriculture. Somebody always told them what to do, how to do and how much. Today, they have the liberty to do whatever they want, but this poses the biggest problems. Who can they blame, if they fail? Accepted by the community, I slowly get to know the villagers and their problems. I am wondering why the villagers don t make an association to look for funds together, to build a storage house, to find a distributor for the whole production. I decide to work the land and produce my own ton of cabbage. Before autumn, I am as excited as they are: will the cabbage be sold this year? Can our plans work? During one year, I will unveil the absurdity of these transition-triggered situations where the Romanian peasants are aiming to become European peasants, however without being able to understand the mechanisms that could lead them to a successful business, even while they toil to cultivate their land. The documentary is essentially a film about people s inability to break out of a vicious circle, presented on a specifically Romanian note the iconic way of laughing your way out of your troubles. The whole film is built as seen through the eyes of the subjective narrator: I, Serban, who sees everything and tells the whole story from the inside. The film uses voiceover and the interviews are not realized in a classical manner. The characters do not speak to the camera, but discuss with me, as I am looking for answers directly from the people living here. To make the story even more engaging and trustworthy, I get actively involved in the community life, by working hard together with the villagers, as an embedded journalist. The documentary advances at a rapid pace. The tone is cheerful and optimistic, depicting a village full of diligent and ambitious people. Though irony is constantly present, it never falls into criticism or mockery. This is not a cold report on the realities of agriculture, but a warm close-up, presented through my personal lens.
Șerban Georgescu Șerban Georgescu has more than 20 years of experience in documentaries and advertising as an editor, producer and director. His personal projects include his coverage as cameraman and director of the documentary Everest, the Calator pe Viata, adventure and culture TV series that he filmed and directed himself, or ROST / SENSE short documentary. As editor he collaborated with some of the best documentary directors in Romania, among which Ovidiu Bose-Paștina, Alexandru Solomon or Ana Boariu. He has teamed up with Norwegian director & producer David Kinsella for several international award-winning documentaries. FILMOGRAPHY, Selected ROST (Sense) / 2014 SENSE is direction, meaning, destiny. Sense means good practice and a certain way of being. Identity begins with understanding your own sense into the world. When you no longer have it, you get lost. The film gathers a number of elements depicting Romanian sense, from tastes to colors, faces and customs. Stories about things from the old days, well done and very Romanian. Because there s SENSE in what we do. And we will keep it. BUCĂTĂRIA HOINARĂ (Wanders of Cooking) / 2011 Appetite comes with... shooting! A scrumptious journey among people, places and ingredients, based on a recipe where wanderlust and the zest of life thrive in a most harmonious combination. Four cooks, each one with their own story and their own quirks and twists, travel across Romania. CĂLĂTOR PE VIAŢĂ (A Traveller for Life) / 2009-2011 A series of culture and adventure traveling to some of the most extreme regions of the planet, from the Amazon jungle to the Arctic glaciers, from Africa to Tibet and from the desert of Sahara to Mount Everest, showing not only landscapes, but also people, culture, history and life. ȚARA LĂPUȘULUI DESTINE ÎNCRUSTATE (Lapus County Carved Destinies) / 2010 From time to time, we discover a place where we can forget the passage of time. Lapus is one of these places, a place where everything you set your eyes on ceases to be fleeting and stays with you longer. A travel to this county helps you get accustomed to another rhythm; to linger, to understand, to reach deeply into the texture of color, of folds, of the raw earth, of silences. EVEREST / 2003 A film about the first 100% Romanian expedition on Mount Everest. A film about courage, friendship, failure and triumph. An expedition that for the first time although disputed by some and acclaimed by others brought the Romanian flag up there, on the highest mountain of the world.
Director's Statement Hello, my name is Serban Georgescu. People know me best as the cameraman and director of the documentary following the first Romanian expedition on Mount Everest. But I have started to work in the broadcasting industry 20 years ago, as a video editor. And now I am excited about my new film: Cabbage, Potatoes and Other Demons. During my trips across Romania, I have often crossed the fields of this village, a place that has always fascinated me with the working frenzy of its people and the madness of its wide oceans and high mountains of cabbage and potatoes. I have often said that such things deserved to be presented in a film, and now the time has come for such a project. First and foremost, because the visual elements are unbelievable, but also because the people of this village have an amazing story. They have been cultivating potatoes and cabbage for the past 200 years and only recently have started wondering why they reached a deadlock. On a positive tone, the story of this single village becomes a relevant subject for a wide audience across the world. By discussing the struggles and challenges of small farmers, it approaches a lot of different important topics in our society: mentalities, different sets of values, stereotypes, modern migrations. I was encouraged in my endeavor by Branko Lustig, Double Oscar winning producer of Schindler's List and Gladiator, who commented on the film after a test pitch: I like it very much. I think it is a very actual movie, with a high market potential. The film has been developed through the Documentary Campus Masterschool mentoring program, benefitting of the support of an experienced network of industry experts. For the production I teamed up with highly recognized partners such as Heino Deckert, Ma.ja.de Filmproduktion (Germany), Alex Iordachescu, Elefant Films (Romanian / Switzerland) and Dan Burlac (Romania / France). Our main financial partners are MDR/ARTE, CNC - Romanian National Centre for Cinematography, TVR - Romanian Public Television and EU's Creative Europe MEDIA Program.
Elefant Film Elefant Flms is a fim production company founded in 2004 by Alex Iordăchescu and Ruxandra Zenide. They created this company in order to produce and co- produce independent films (fiction and documentary feature films, short films and experimental films). The company has developed a network of international partners that work together on co-productions of the Swiss film industry and other European countries. Elefant Films is a full accredited member of GARP (The Group of the Producers Filmmakers) since 2005 and part of its board of directors since 2006. Some of the films produced in the past years are: The miracle of Tekir (d: Ruxandra Zenide, 2015), Le Mur et l Eau (d: Alice Fargier, 2014), Sette opere di misericordia (d: Gianluca De Serio, Massimilliano De Serio, 2012), Lullaby to my father (d: Amos Gitai, 2012), Păcătoasa Teodora (d: Anca Hirte, 2011), L enfance d Icare (d: Alex Iordăchescu, 2009), L Autre Moitié (d: Rolando Colla, 2007), Ryna (d: Ruxandra Zenide, 2005). Elefant Film SRL Calea Mosilor 123, apt. 4bis, sector 2, Bucuresti tel: +40723.889.169 e-mail: gabi@elefantfilms.eu