IAmA documentary filmmaker from Bucharest, Laurentiu Garofeanu, making a film about the post-communism practice of selling Romanian babies to adoptive parents. Ask me (and us) anything!

What do you hope to achieve with your film?

Thanks for your question.
As the director, like with other peojects i work on, I'm trying to first of all start a conversation. It's important for a nation, community, just like a person to go throught therapy in order to heal throumas caused by whatever events.
There are a lot of people who either are on denial or don't like to talk about the sensitive issues. I am hoping this would be hart of the healing process.
The more people know about these issues, the better, awarness is another key aspect of what we are aiming for.
The last, and it's more like and ideal, is to change so,ething in the system and the children that need care to be looked after in a better way.
A lot of issues have spilled after the adoptions spopped and many children are trapped without having a chance to be adopted.

Where did romanian people found the babies? They most get the babies from somewhere.
And this system was while there also were legal adoptions?

There were a lot of 'good adoptions', legal ones, saving a lot of children from very poor living situations in the orphanages. At the beginning, quiate a lot of disabled children were adopted, given the opportunity for a better life.

As time went on, more and more people came to adopt and Romanian people working in the system started to take advantage from the situation.
Many adoption agencies set up shop to help these parents adopt, some international.

It all started with the children found in the orphanages after Ceausescu's regime fell in dec 1989, news reports from around the rold came and didf reports on them, such as BBC in the UK and 20/20 in USA. Most people remember these images.

Hi- I was born in Romania in 1987 and was adopted and came to the states when I was almost 4 years old. Do you have any advice on finding information about my biological parents/family? Thanks!

https://www.facebook.com/theneverforgottenromanianchildren/

for sure, the best place for this kind of support is:
https://www.facebook.com/theneverforgottenromanianchildren/
They have a great team in place that help a lot of adopteed connect with birth families.

This is awesome! Thank you so much for your quick reply and especially for the work you do as well! I am planning to return to my birth town in Gura Humorului. I would like to give back to my community in some fashion. Do you have any recommendations on how to go about this? Thank you, again! Noroc!

Not really sure what you have in mind, but there would be lots of ways to give back to the community. Gura Humorului is a very beautiful place in Romania, and once you reconnect, it will be revealed to you. It's great you have this attitude. That's a great start :)

Do you interview only the children and families that were directly affected or also other members of society from different age groups as well? I m asking because I have grown up in Romania and most of the times when I tried to open up any subject before the 00 my parents, teachers and grandparents tend to end the subject very quickly (and this is a fact for most subjects concerning their past). How does the society react? What are the differences between the new generations and the old ones? Does it matter if they live in the city or village?

If i understand correctly, you are asking if i develop other projects regarding topics that have to do with Romania's recent history?
Not for this project, but yea i work on different documentary ideas that i have, most of them are related to the post communistic age somehow.
I worked with homeless people, and they tell some amazing stories
People with disabilities, same.
Also people who have a goal in mind, like climbing the tallest buildings or enter a new sport. There are so many many areas to explore, so many good ideas, interesting people.
There are other other good documentary filmmakers that explore our heritage and contemporary topics. I would be more them happy to give you a few examples if you need.

Super . Mult succes ! Consider că România iese din postcomunism in anii aceștia 20' . În multe țări , legal se pot căsători doua persoane de același sex . Crezi că asta influențează "piața" de copii ? Crezi că părinții , ambii masculi , urmăresc să adopte un copil chiar și pe cai ilegale ? Faptul că sunt politicieni LGBT influențează cumva "piata" ?

Nu cred ca are legatura, adoptiile au fost oprite cu multi ani in urma, momentan cele internationale sunt aproape de zero. Sunt oameni care fac lobby sa schimbe asta si sa redeschida granitele catre international.
E greu sa aduci in discutie situatia persoanelor care fac parte din LGBTQ in 'piata' care momentan nici nu mai exista. Sper ca asta a raspuns intrebarii tale.

Is there in place a process where grown adoptee children can find their birth parents? Is that even possible, or did the process hide/obscure the connections?

There are several facebook groups that offer the infrastructure to do just that
Romanian Adoptive Families
Adopted From Romania :)
https://www.facebook.com/theneverforgottenromanianchildren/

As a documentary filmmaker, what makes you choose a subject to make a film about? Or do you feel like the subject “chooses you” instead?

I think, like any creative process, there are several ways to choose a subject.
In this case, as i was away from Romania for 15 years, coming back I realized how many issues weren't covered in the main stream media.
I am interested in working on human interest stories, I love people and I think every person has an amazing stories to tell.
In the past i have worked with homeless people, people with dizabilities, discrimination, but not only, extreme and new sports.

Hey, so it sounds like there are some similar themes in your film to One Child Nation (Nanfu Wang) which focuses on the one Child policy in China and the many Western adoptions that followed.

I am curious if you are aware of that film, and if so do you feel like your film is in conversation with it given the cross over in topic of the film (international adoption, communism, poverty, etc.).

.

Separately, how has been trying to publish a film mid pandemic? What extra challenges does that present.

Hi, yes, I am aware of Nanfu's film, it's a very important documentary on the same topic.
China, Vietnam, South American countries had the same issue as the Eastern Europe ones like Ukraine, Bulgaria and Romania.

Our film has a similar aproach to the similar problem.
We are hoping to open a conversation about the recent, post communistic past.
It's really amazing how many people do not know about these issues, in Romania but more so abroad.
It's not a shamfull past, it's a painful one and i think it's important to talk about it.
In order for us to move forward and hopefully don't make the same mistakes.

in respect to the pandemic, yes, it's a big issue for us like any other documentary filmmekers. We were suppose to film in 2020 but we totally got stuck because of the restrictions imposed.
We are working now on making a plan to start again.
Anyhow, you probably know in developing a documentary takes anywhere between 3-5 years without the pandemic.
Our film should be open to public in 2022 the soonest.

Hope that answers your questions

Thanks! Good luck, I know its a lot of hard work. I hope to see you on the festival circuit when it's ready!

Thanks a lot, I appreciate your good thoughts.
I'll keep posting here, news about the production.
I am really glad people are interested in the topic, it's really important for us the filmmakers.

I would also be interested to know what you've like to see discuss in the film.

How much for a baby?

There were various sums from a few hundred to many thousands.