SOFTLY IN ALL DIRECTIONS uncovers forgotten queer histories and weaves together stories of political resistance, imagination, and desire in the shadow of Romania’s communist past.
Director’s Statement:
My identity as a queer person deeply influences my work as an artist and filmmaker. I feel fortunate that many of my early film projects were under the guidance and mentorship of queer elders who taught me that we can build the futures we want through imagination, creativity, and collective care. Before he passed, theorist José Muñoz wrote of queerness as the “warm illumination of a horizon imbued with potentiality” – this never ending journey of experimentation and becoming is one I see reflected in science fiction writers like Octavia Butler and Ursula Le Guin, in thinkers like Adrienne Maree Brown and Donna Haraway, and in filmmakers like Apichatong Weerasethakul and Barbara Hammer. Their work continues to offer some of the deepest inspiration to my life and creative practice.
Cultivated from the seeds of my own family history and my LGBTQ Romanian lineage, undertaking this project feels both vulnerable and invigorating. In creating this film, I am motivated by the question – can deconstructing dominant histories make room for new stories and futures to emerge? I believe that too often we are presented with a static interpretation of historical events. In reality, the past is not an objective truth but a constantly evolving narrative. Memory and history transform over time as new information and previously erased stories are brought to light. It is my hope that ‘Softly in all directions’ offers a creative and experimental container for healing and crafting new meanings of our history as queer people.
