The Soviet Garden
| Director | Dragos Turea |
| Producer | Parmis Film Studio – Dragos Turea, Rova Film – Mariana Crisan |
| Writer | Dragos Turea, Marian Crisan |
| Camera | Ion Bors |
| Editor | Vadim Severin |
| Music | Cristian Lolea |
| Original Title | GRADINA SOVIETICA |
| Year | 2019 |
| Length | 76 min |
| Country | Romania, Moldova |
| Subtitles | English |
| Section | DOCUMENTARIES OPEN DEBATES |
The focus of this engaging investigative documentary is the shocking truth about the well-hidden experiments of the Soviet government, in which an atomic garden was created in Moldova that would supply all Soviet States with amazingly huge crops of various vegetables.
The film will be introduced by Otto Boele, senior lecturer on Russian cinema at Leiden University. He will also moderate the Live Talk / Masterclass with the director Dragos Turea on November 11 via Zoom. Dutch Premiere.
Synopsis
Stimulated by his grandmother’s lethal illness and her memories on some mysterious agricultural experiments in the past, Moldavian filmmaker Dragos decides to investigate why cancer rate has increased in his home country lately and whether there is some connection between the fatal statistics and these secret scientific endeavours. This very personal documentary digs into rare found footage in order to portray the industrial shock imposed on Moldova by the Soviet State, while unveiling the secret plan of Nikita Khrushchev to transform Moldova into the Soviet Garden through the application of atomic energy in agriculture.