When I was looking for places to explore for my documentary, I came upon Olteanca, which intrigued me because of its name. Seeing a direct link between the name of this village and my surname, Olteanu, I decided to investigate and attempt to base my documentary here. After further investigation, I stumbled upon a documentary by João Pedro Borsani titled “Olteanca”. It is a documentary that depicts the realities of the village, where people live quietly and miss those who have emigrated.
Through its authenticity, the documentary features a series of talking heads of various villagers that present themselves and their village with natural joy. Despite their advanced age, the residents of Olteanca enjoy life to the fullest: caring for their gardens, livestock and the homemade brandy from last fall whilst also longing for the return of their offspring or relatives who have fled to other countries in search of a better life. Most of them are aware that the young will never return, whilst others still hang on to hope that their community will someday thrive again through young families that decide to relocate and engage in the natural way of life that Olteanca offers.
For my documentary “The Bread Is Too Far Away…” I focused on the village of Firijba, located around 32 Kilometres away from Olteanca, in the same county, Vâlcea. Whilst this is a simple coincidence, the situation is similar throughout Romania. The country has several open wounds created by emigration, and a lot of suffering is still visible in hearts of those that still call Romania their home.
Based on my research, with around 75% of Romania’s rural population living below the poverty line, only one hope remains for the youth: leaving everything behind and searching for a better life abroad. With almost half of the Romanian population living in rural areas, it paints a picture of abandonment of the future, where the villages and hamlets become places for the often forgotten elderly distant relatives. Even the youngest Romanians, Gen Z, are leaving the country for better opportunities and not returning home, making up a quarter of Romanians permanently leaving the country. This situation is of grave importance as Romania will become a nation full of hopeless elderly who couldn’t follow their families or did not want to, as they value their lives in the little that they know and have in the land they know the best. However, with a turbulent past and open wounds, Romania sees no progress in most departments with “lagging education, poor infrastructure and uncertain regulations” in a country with severe internal public trust issues, seemingly stuck in the past.
Bibliography
Borsani, J.P. (2016). Olteanca | Film documentar (Documentary Film | Olteanca)
Chirileasa, A. (2021). Active Romanian population keeps leaving the country. Romania Insider.
Dumitrescu, R. (2022). Gen Zs Make up 28% of Romanians Permanently Leaving the Country. Romania Insider.
Paun, C. (2018). A Romanian village feels the country’s emigration pain.
World Bank (2018). From Uneven Growth to Inclusive Development. Romania’s Path to Shared Prosperity, pp.45–50.
