Transit Times: Moldovan Family Drama Set in 1990s Economic Collapse

Ana-Felicia Scutelnicu's film 'Transit Times' depicts a Moldovan family struggling to survive economically after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Set in 1990s Chișinău, the story follows Zina, a stage designer, and her husband Victor, an artist who fails to sell paintings at a weekend market. Five years after Moldova's 1991 independence, the economic situation has worsened. The family sold their piano, and daughter Eva cannot practice for a concert. The film portrays a society where passport forgers, shady investors, and human traffickers thrive, while former communist officials cling to outdated morals. Scutelnicu, a German-Moldovan filmmaker who experienced this era as a child, focuses on psychological depth and detailed settings—decaying monasteries, dilapidated cultural palaces, and impoverished apartments—rather than heightened drama. The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival.