While Romania needs to hurry up to cross the 2020 finish line with all its EU waste targets met, the situation on the ground becomes more and more unsustainable. At its core we find a cultural challenge which needs tackling by any possible means. Irony and direct involvement may prove amazing tools, as Amazing Romania! seems to suggest. It is a video produced by Mike Ormsby and Angela Nicoara who chose to deal with the Romanian green issue in a very creative way. In his RWD interview Mike Ormsby has revealed us the origin and the funny details behind the video shot in Magura and starring very special (and crucial) actors.
Enjoy the video and, above all, share it!
Excerpt from RWD interview to Mike Ormsby:
“Angela and I decided to make the video after a villager yelled an ironic comment while we were picking litter. Before I tell you what that person yelled, a little context might help, as follows.
Despite our many invitations to them, no local adults help us to collect litter in Magura. Instead, they offer excuses, e.g. I’m too busy. Some parents even tried to forbid their kids from helping us to tidy up because they think it’s undignified, dirty, and ‘not our problem’, even though many of them own guest houses and thus benefit from a cleaner village for tourists to enjoy. Naturally, we are disappointed, especially as our work takes only a couple of hours every month or so. Anyway, moving on …
We were with local kids collecting litter from a mountain lane, when a local yelled, “Hah! Vino Mama, sa ma vezi cum lucrez la spatii verzi!” Angela told me that this was a sarcastic reference to a communist-era work slogan: “Mum, come and see, I’m working in the green spaces!”
We’d been thinking for a while about making a music video with some of the village kids who attend my ukulele class, but we had not chosen a song from our repertoire. So, we decided to use that communist-era slogan for a new song about collecting litter, a song urging local parents to help us. We were sitting in a pizza place at the time and we heard ‘Every Breath You Take’ in the background. We realised we could adapt Sting’s nice tune but add our own lyrics about litter in Magura. Angela found an experienced cameraman to help shoot and edit the film, and a neighbour choreographed traditional dance steps for the kids. We added a comic touch – dancing with bags full of rubbish – and paid homage to Bob Dylan with our flash cards listing the sorts of things we find in the village. You name it, we find it!
The video shoot took several days and was very hard work in hot weather. It can be tricky coordinating a dozen kids, for shot after shot, but they were very cooperative. When they got tired, we told them, “This is how it feels to be a movie star, it’s a lot of work!” That made them feel a bit famous and they’d brighten up.
So far, our video has had around 30,000 hits on the Internet and dozens of supportive comments. Lucian Mandruta from DigiFM posted it on his Facebook page, which helped. If you wish to watch, here is the link: ‘Amazing Romania!’ Please share, every thumb helps. But will local adults? We’ll see.”
This post is also available in: Italian