Published under the titled "VHS vs. Communism" , the article is accompanied by a short documentary film directed by Ilinca Călugăreanu, a director born in Romania and who lives in London.
“In Communist Romania in the 1980s, a young translator became an unlikely voice of freedom. She illicitly dubbed thousands of foreign films, distributed on VHS tapes, turning B-movie stars into heroes”, states the beginning of the article.
“I was raised in Romania in the 1980s, under a Communist regime that, among countless repressions, reduced television to two hours a day of dull propaganda, traditional music, patriotic poems and censored films. One day when I was 6, my parents found a way to borrow a VCR. They invited their friends, and all night they watched grainy VHS tapes of Hollywood B-movies. I remember the films, but more so I remember how I felt when I stepped into the living room — like walking into a secret, magical and free world”, stated . Ilinca Călugăreanu
“All the dialogue on these movies was dubbed into Romanian in a husky, high-pitched woman’s voice. Throughout my childhood, these films provided a glimpse into the forbidden West, resplendent with blue jeans, Coke and skyscrapers. As Hollywood movies became ubiquitous through the black market, this voice became one of the most recognizable in Romania. Yet no one knew who she was”, the documentary producer added.
“After the 1989 revolution I learned the true story, which I present here in this Op-Doc video”, Ilina Calugareanu went on.
“In 1985, Irina Margareta Nistor, a young translator at the national television station, met a mysterious entrepreneur. He was smuggling, copying and distributing movies on VHS tapes. This was the beginning of a working relationship that lasted more than a decade. In all, Ms. Nistor says she dubbed more than 3,000 different films. Thanks to her, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Bruce Lee became popular heroes in Romania”.
“In a time when the Romanian state controlled every aspect of its citizens’ lives -- including food, heat, transportation and information -- people found a way to escape and resist the state’s far-reaching hand, through the power of movies”.
The documentary "VHS vs. Communism", presented alongside this Article in the e New York Times, also includes a fews statements of mass-media people and people from the entertainment industry like Vlad Craioveanu, Mihai Dobrovolschi, Ioan Gyuri Pascu and Adrian Sitaru, but also the famous goalkeeper Helmuth Duckadam.
" It was amazing to be doing something unrelated to communism , something that was not communism. Watch imperial films.", Ioan Gyuri Pascu stated reminiscing about the times.
"I did not believe she even had a body ", Mihai Dobrovolschi says , in reference to the person who was making the dubbing of foreign movies in Romania recorded on VSHs
"She was the voice . The Voice", Vlad Craioveanu added.
In 1983, Irina Margareta Nistor got hired by the national television. Part of her job was to translate films for the censorship committee.
Ilinca Călugăreanu is a Romanian documentary film director who lives in London. He studied documentary film production at Granada Center for Visual Anthropology in the British city of Manchester. The video shown in the Op-Doc section of The New York Times website is an adaptation of her next feature documentary, titled "Chuck Norris vs. Communism".
The Op-Doc section of the New York Times website is a forum for documentary shorts opinion on various productions by creative independent filmmakers and artists.