Metronom

A superbly stylised evocation of life in 1970s Bucharest, Metronom is a quietly affecting love story set against the severe backdrop of authoritarian state control. Ana, 17, dreams of love and freedom. One night, while partying with her friends, they decide to send a letter to Metronom, the musical programme which Radio Free Europe broadcasts clandestinely in Romania. Little do they know that the Securitate, Ceausescu’s secret police, has been informed. An impressive first feature by Romanian director Alexandru Belc who emerges as a distinctive new voice in the vibrant Romanian cinema scene.

I didn’t set out to make a film about communism but rather to tell a story that happens in those times and that cannot function outside that period, even if it has a certain universality. I used the 1970s as a backdrop for the story, without trying to overplay the era… I am a firm believer in cinema’s power of change. The documentaries I have seen had palpable results; they generated real, visible change. When I wrote the script for Metronom, I felt a deep responsibility towards history and mainly towards cinema. I thought about the necessity of safeguarding the past. I wanted to approach with a certain detachment the story of these teenagers from the 1970s, so thirsty for freedom and influenced by western music, culture and the hippy movement, by [Radio Free Europe anchor] Cornel Chiriac’s Metronom.

Director Alexandru Belc, from an interview in Cineuropa