After two years spent as a student in Boston, a 22-year-old visits his native Moldova. It is April 2009. People gather in the streets of Chisinau, the call having spread through social networking sites. They are demonstrating against the communist authorities who falsified the election results. They seize and plunder the parliament and presidential buildings. The demonstrators carry away documents, furniture and office equipment. Our protagonist (Igor Babiac) is coming from a friend’s home carrying his own computer monitor. He is mistaken for a demonstrator, brutally beaten up by the police and taken to the police station. His interrogator is an experienced major. The authorities can do anything. Based on real events, the film asks questions about freedom, justice and the price of human life.
Anatol Durbala is a Moldovan actor and director, graduate of the MHAT and editing courses in New York. He is a well-known TV host and has a PhD from Visual Arts. VARVARA is his 2nd feature film while his debut film ”What a Wonderful World” won FIPRESCI Prize @30th Warsaw IFF.