8th of March

Free screening! North American Premiere!

In four industrial cities in Romania, time seems to have stood still. The women in this documentary debut of director Alexandru Belc labour in a clothing factory, in a coal storage facility, in a food processing unit or as tram drivers. From the pitch black coal dust to the antiseptic whiteness in the dairy industry, the 8th of March (aka the Women's Day) is just another day: exhausting, hard work and no satisfaction. In Belc’s firm hands, the eye of the camera gives as much attention to the confessions, moments of nostalgia or tears of these unseen, everyday heroines, as it does to their job requirements, repetitive and absurd to the highest degree. With a screenplay co-authored by Belc and producer Tudor Giurgiu, Chaplin’s Modern Times is reinvented in post-communist Romania, in a haunting and troubling account which makes you do anything but laugh.