My Father's Revolution

A Romanian grandfather who lived most of his life under Communism has his dreams of democracy shattered after the 1989 revolution. Thirty years later he is still reluctant to talk to his daughter and grandson about those days. In December 1989, long-fermenting unrest erupted into a revolution that saw the fall of one of Eastern Europe's most brutal dictators, Nicolae Ceausescu. Throughout the country, misinformation and confusion reigned. In the far north of the country, in a small town far away from the capital and unrest, my father was part of a group of citizens trying to grapple with the new reality. In a comically chaotic situation, he helped a motley crew of towns-people as they tried to sort the propaganda from reality (for example, persistent stories that foreign terrorists were traveling the countryside in large black cars) and navigate a newly liberated country that had lived under a brutal dictatorship for nearly 50 years. The results of the revolt 30 years later remain unsatisfying, as political dynamics have kept the true dream of democracy from being fulfilled. The construct of the film is to reveal this tragic/comic story through the lens of a grandfather trying to explain to his young American grandson what revolution is. The cultural differences between Communist Romania and the modern-day suburbs of Philadelphia help reinforce the difficulties and emotion of those times for the protagonist.