Experimentul Pitesti

Last night I was present with my colleagues at the Pitesti Philharmonic for the release here, too, of the independent feature film Experimentul PITESTI, by the young producer and director Victoria Baltag, with whom I had the opportunity to meet 12 years ago, just before to beginning to work on this featurefilm. This feature is a distinctive event, a document-film, a historical paragraph.

The Pitesti experiment remains in Romania's recent history one of the cruelest methods of re-educating the imprisoned, most of them pupils and students whose thinking had to be changed in order to comply with communist requirements.

The artistic film, a tough one, moves you and makes you witness some atrocities that took place shortly before we were born, in the places near us, at the Pitesti Prison.

The more people become aware of the possibility of the presence of "evil", the harder it can be repeated.

I invite you to watch this piece of black history that puts Pitesti on an unfair map of cruelty for awareness and knowledge.

I congratulate Victoria for the work done and the result - a masterpiece, a film that makes Pitesti known all over the world, and with the effort of each of us, we can show that everything that happened during that time was just an unrepeatable episode."

Engaging and educational piece, recommend to watch it. Interesting to learn about this not so much known part of Romanian history. Helped with the process and it was inspiring to see how devoted the director was, who has done an incredible job of research and filmmaking. The film is accessible despite the heavy material.

A great lesson of history, and a study of human behaviour under extreme circumstances- when the boundaries between the victim and oppressor aren't black & white anymore, and people are pushed to act beyond their limits. Let's hope such 'experiments' won't happen ever again, anywhere in the world......

If I have not succeeded through my articles and my direct experiences with the Romanian State reported on my blog as a free journalist and investigative sociologist in Romania to convince you that Romania is a Discreet Dictatorship and not a real democracy, surely the director of the film "The Pitesti Experiment", Victoria Baltag (My God, what a name! Reminds me of Vitoria Lipan from Baltagul; she seems like a woman destined from birth to carry the mission of bringing justice to the victims of communism even after death).

Victoria Baltag's film is recognized by the free critics in Romania as the film of the year 2023. But not by the Ministry of Culture and the Romanian State through its various cultural institutions, who refused to support the movie for the simple fact that today's politicians of the Single Party (PSD, PNL and their satellites AUR and SOS) in Romania, the children of those who caused the drama presented in the film The Pitesti Experiment, do not want to put their parents-torturers or just nomenclaturists of communism with the role of witnesses or even instigators at the time, in the embarrassing situation of having to remember the acts of cruelty described in the film.

I think this film is important for the culture of every Romanian, both of those who lived the harsh experience of communism but only later learned of its extent, just as the world learned about the horrors of Nazism and the Holocaust only after World War II, as well as of the young people who had no chance to know this dark side of Romania's recent history because today's descendants of yesterday's torturers rather wanted to hide the collective drama and trauma of this people linked to communism and communists. A drama which, as you will understand from Victoria Baltag's words, but also from my articles, is continued, even if discreetly, by the children of the communists who rule Romania today.

So I invite you to see this film which promises to be memorable and then write your honest and undisguised opinions about it on Facebook, where even in a discreet dictatorship like Romania, Freedom of Expression is still full.

Enjoy your viewing!

De la intalnirea cu Francisc Ford Copolla (in 2007)nu am mai vazut la un regizor atata pasture, rigoare in documentare,atentie la detalii, entuziasm si emotie bine controlata prin autoritatea constiintei propriei valori. Un OM si un Geniu (am proprietatea termenilor) pe care am avut sansa sa-l intalnesc la Suceava, odata cu proiectia filmului ei despre experimentul de la Pitesti care a inceput (culmea), la Suceava.

Despre cumplitul Experiment Pitesti, in care unii detinuti politici au fost asmutiti impotriva celorlalti si acestia din urma au trecut prin tortúri inimaginabile, publicul stie inca destul de putine. S-au scris carti si studii, dar n-a fost suficient. Pentru a umple acest gol, acum 12 ani, o foarte tanara regizoare, Victoria Baltag, a pornit un proiect ambitios, fara nici o finantare.

In 2015, a reusit sa realizeze un film artistic fara buget, la care a participat si regretatul mare actor Ion Caramitru, in ceea ce avea sa fie ultimul lui rol intr-un lungmetraj.

De-atunci si pana acum, regizoarea si echipa ei de voluntari au mers cu filmul intr-un turneu national, in 44 de locuri, dar a fost si invitata in Mexic, Canada si SUA. De fiecare data a prezentat intr-o expozitie si obiectele pe care a reusit sa le adune: trei tablouri realizate de detinutul Fag Negrescu dupa ce a reusit sa supravietuiasca infernului de la Pitesti, numeroase alte tablouri donate de artisti contemporani pentru ca din banii rezultati in urma vanzarii lor sa poata ajuta proiectul, lucrari de arta ale regizoarei, fotografii si obiecte de la filmari, o cerga daruita la Iasi de jurnalostul Lucian Merisca, fiul lui Constantin Merisca, fost detinut politic la Pitesti.

La sfarsit de august 2023, prima editie a turneului s-a incheiat la Bucuresti, pentru putina vreme caci al doilea turneu al anului 2023 urmeaza sa inceapa chiar in aceasta toamna si are in centrul ei obiecte ale tinerilor care au trecut prin Experimentul Pitesti.