General Information

Author/Creator

Iepan, Florin, director

Language

English, Romanian.

Subtitles

English

Published

Germany ; Romania : Westend Film & TV, 2004.

Physical Description

DVD-ROM (54 mins.)

Digital ver. identifier

HU_OSA_10000904

Contents/Summary

Summary

“Procreation is the social duty of all fertile women,” was the political thinking during the 1960s and 1970s in Romania. In 1966, Ceaucescu issued Decree 770, in which he forbade abortion for all women unless they were over forty or were already taking care of four children. All forms of contraception were totally banned. The New Romanian Man was born. By 1969, the country had a million babies more than the previous average. Thousands of kindergartens were built overnight. Children had to participate in sports and cultural activities. Romanian society was rapidly changing. By using very interesting archival footage and excerpts from old fiction films and by interviewing famous personalities from that time – gynaecologists or mothers who were part of the new society – the director revives this period of tremendous oppression of personal freedom. Many deaths were caused by the mere fact that women, including wives of secret Romanian agents, famous TV presenters and actresses, had to undergo illegal abortions. Many women were jailed for having them. Some died by using awkward abortion methods, like injecting mustard or lemon juice into the uterus. Sex life was no fun anymore. But still, Romania had a demographic boom and hosted a world conference on population in 1974.

Subjects

Genre

Documentary films

Bibliographic Information

Holdings

Item Type	Current Location	Call Number	Status	Shelving Location	Public Note
DVD-ROM	OSA Film Library	FL Record 5410	Available		-
Digital film	OSA Film Library	FL Record 5410 (HU_OSA_10000904.mp4)	Available		Access Copy, MP4 format