Research for a documentary about my grandmother, Seeking the help of smarter people

Hello everyone!

What a great community to stumble upon to in doing my research.

Long story short I am a film student and I interviewed my 85 year old grandmother, both as a memory for the family and as a project for my school.

I chose to do a documentary about this interview, but since I have only the audio I am looking to gather as much material as I can.

Some memories she recollected are about the Germans and Russians fighting in their village and leaving it destroyed behind.

What I am looking for is much more, I want to gather video, audio and images mainly as a material but letters are welcomed as well.

It would be a massive help and deeply appreciated if, by any chance, anyone has amateur footage shot in Romania from 1918 till Ceausescu's* reign and would be kind enough to lend to it to a student project. I would like to credit both the user and this community.

You can get in touch with me here, or on tbiorga@gmail.com for more details.

Thank you very much and I hope you had a great weekend,

Tiberiu Iorga

*accidentally misspelled

This post has been edited by tbiorga on March 27, 2017 04:39 pm

That's very, very general.
If you are really planning to achieve something, you have to clarify for yourself what you are trying to do.
Wherever you will search for information, you will have to give some information in turn.
People don't have to guess just because you don't want to write more.

For example:
You are asking for information starting with 1918.
Are you curious about WWI ?
No, because your grandmother is 85, so she was born in 1932, thus she witnessed WWII.

Did this happen in Moldova, in Transylvania, or ?
OK, that was to show what means to be more specific.
You may not find here "amateur footage", but if you will spend time to read through the hundreds of topics that gathered here over 15 years, I am optimistic that you may find some "images", useful text and Internet links for "video".

This post has been edited by Florin on March 27, 2017 03:37 am

CEAUȘESCU. Nicolae Ceaușescu

That's very, very general.
If you are really planning to achieve something, you have to clarify for yourself what you are trying to do.
Wherever you will search for information, you will have to give some information in turn.
People don't have to guess just because you don't want to write more.

For example:
You are asking for information starting with 1918.
Are you curious about WWI ?
No, because your grandmother is 85, so she was born in 1932, thus she witnessed WWII.

Did this happen in Moldova, in Transylvania, or ?
OK, that was to show what means to be more specific.
You may not find here "amateur footage", but if you will spend time to read through the hundreds of topics that gathered here over 15 years, I am optimistic that you may find some "images", useful text and Internet links for "video".

Hello, thank you for your quick response.

I asked for footage regarding WWI because the video is so specific to an actual moment that I want to build context around it, which is why I am creating a 1:00 - 1:30 intro from the moment the earth started forming to the present day she is narrating. (if anyone has seen The Tree of Life it would make sense what I am saying).

The area in which the action happened doesn't really matter as they will be serving as mood pieces, they will be altered and juxtaposed over certain elements to give the mood of that times - so as long as it's Romania and not America, as long as you can see at a glance that it isn't Germany, USA, UK and so on they should work.

I am sorry that a lot of you, especially some who messages me took my request so personal. I am sorry if I disrespected some of your views with the abstractness of my request. I have maximum respect for the passion this community has and I wouldn't consciously disrespect it.

I am going to look over some of the topics and try and find material. I should've have given more details and I understand that, just know that it was nothing personal or coming out of an egotistic nature but something coming out a lack of experience with the genre in itself.


* I misspelled Ceausescu as Ceaucescu due to the fast type&go that I did, I should've double checked. I am sorry if I offended anyone.

Tiberiu, you were very civil and polite in your answer, and I cannot help but congratulate you for that!

You should not worry about your request, we are not so stand-offish around here and you did not offend anyone. I assume Florin only wanted a more detailed/precise account in order to be able to help.

As for Ceaucescu instead of Ceaușescu, there's no problem either. Only that, especially until/during early 90's I found the name misspelled like that in the American literature/press, as o sort of (what I consider) a cultural shortsightedness and inability to adapt to a world of multiplicity.

Good luck with your project, Tiberiu.
For "video" as "amateur footage" this website may not be the best source.
"amateur (video) footage" was something rare in Romania, from 1918 to the end of "Ceausescu's* reign".
Today technology is so convenient and accessible - even a mobile phone can take a video.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
As I mentioned before, you may find some interesting photos in the topics created here over years.
With some luck, even some appropriate video links from Internet.
If I would be in your place, to gather video footage I would input search words in YouTube's search bar.
Imagine YouTube as a huge garbage bin where from place to place hidden diamonds wait to be discovered.

This post has been edited by Florin on March 28, 2017 05:11 pm