The Host

Author film produced as part of my master's degree thesis. "If you drink water from the Danube, it is said you fall in love with the river for life. Whoever passes through Sfiștofca once, I would say, always carries it within his or her heart. The wind from Sfiștofca rustles the stories of the past, of ancestors, of dance, of song and wine, of many people, of frosty winters, of recent past, of how everything grew silent, in the meantime, as if in a moment. The uninhabited houses, invaded by cattle and horses, are gradually loosing their roofs, a wall falls here and here, and then they collapse completely, leaving behind a mound of earth. All the material from which they were made returns to the earth: clay, wood, reeds. Like any place infused with a powerful cultural and spiritual life, Sfiștofca attracts eyes which are open to see it. There is much to be seen and heard, but there is more which is hidden there, in the earth, in the howling of the wind. The village, which Mircea has explored extensively – as if feeding on it – has a wide high street, walked by one man at a time, from time to time; and smaller ones, some of which lead nowhere." Ioana Bursan Savin