A film by Ruxandra Gubernat, Henry Rammelt & Marcel Schreiter
"Portavoce" (Megaphone) traces back the evolution of a culture of protest in Romania, developing in recent years, through the voices and opinions of key actors involved in social mobilization, in direct actions and in the development of a cultural scene favorable to political involvement. Throughout the movie, we placed an emphasis on interviews with activists and "affiliates" of the "alternative scene" in Bucharest. Three main protest waves were presented and critically put in context, through interviews and protest footage. At the end of January 2017, mass protests against a government ordinance emerged in Romania and soon became the biggest protest wave this country had seen in over 25 years. These protests highlighted a trend of discontentment of the young generation, discovering an interest in politics and demanding its share in political decision-making. This movie's starting aim was to find out if the perceived simultaneity of cultural consumption within an urban "alternative" scene, and the processes of politicization associated with, is at the core of social mobilization in Romania. As we understood it, the events of 2017 were the climax of a development characterized by a succession of protests, during the last four years, parallel to an increasing consumption of non-mainstream culture. In 2013, an environmental campaign against the 'Rosia Montana' mining project, marked the moment when the collective identity of this group was shaped, a collective identity further strengthened during the protests of November 2015, following a fire that killed 65 people and destroyed the Bucharest alternative concert venue 'Colectiv'. The movie offers a dynamic composition of in depth analytical discussions of highly relevant societal trends, lifestyle elements and fast moving imagery of protests and artistic events (music and performance art).
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