Much like anywhere else in Chisinau, the Moldovan capital, the Ministry of Culture is having a tough job transforming creaking Soviet architecture and infrastructure into an attractive and welcoming proposition for outside investors. The Minister for Culture, Sergiu Prodan, however, is buoyant.

“We do not select the time when we live!” said Prodan jovially, referencing the situation in neighbouring Ukraine. Prodan’s vision is simple and guided by his insider-knowledge as a former – and noted – film director and producer. Although drumming up a national film fund to subsidise a vital national industry may seem like bread and butter to G7 countries, Mr Prodan’s vision will take a great deal more guile to execute.

“After the Soviet Union collapsed, Moldovan cinematography was practically reduced to zero. One of my productions was probably the last one before the transition from Soviet cinema to Moldovan cinema,” he recalled. “After that, the state contribution to film production was also significantly decreased down to zero. That was 2001. After that, it wasn’t until 2014, with the new law of cinematography, that contribution by the state finally started again.”

“It was and is a very small amount of money. But, fortunately, our new generation of film producers is very involved, dedicated, active,” he said. “We have started a new wave of enthusiasm in our cinematography, especially in short films, but still with a very small budget.” 

The Minister elaborated how Moldova intends to boost film financing, “Now, we have no fund for film production. At the moment, the Ministry for Culture, through the National Centre, finance productions by competition, by pitching. Maybe 20 or 30 people get a small amount of money. The law is very strict. The money should be spent within the [financial] year. If you win and do not use the money within the year, you lose it.”

Prodan continued enthusiastically, “We want to start a new instrument. It’s in public discussion now, but we need to create a new line of financing. It’s going to collect from taxpayers, then go directly into this fund. Some activities we want to tax, like smoking and drinking. Bad habits will finance cultural products!”

As for what avenues Prodan’s department will explore in order to tempt foreign investment and co-productions to visit Moldova, he said “Our heritage. It is very, very rich. Not just the rural locations, but also our folklore, our folk traditions, our high level of services and art.”

It must be noted that Prodan and his colleagues are very much building on a landscape that is, asset-wise, barren. “Our divorce from the Soviet Union was peaceful,” he shrugged. “But on the condition that the Russian Federation took everything that they considered to be theirs.”

Knowing all too well that some of the hardest yards that Moldova has to travel in the post-Soviet era are still ahead, Minister Prodan is sanguine. “What I want to stress is that the Republic of Moldova is not the successor to the Soviet Union,” he said. “The successor is the Russian Federation. We started building our modern heritage after the Soviet Union, in the 1990s.” 

But, as elsewhere, film and cinema are a perfectly formed instrument of visual and financial quid pro quo. “First of all, it’s our film producers and our community of filmmakers,” he said. “They are active and we try to support and promote their films, in the United Kingdom and the United States. We have to recognise, to accept, that the impact is on our diaspora first of all.”

One shining example of the Moldovan diaspora flocking to support a film from their homeland was 2022’s “Carbon”. Directed by Ion Bors and written by Mariana Starciuc, the award-winning film was toured throughout the US by producer Sergiu Cumatrenco. “For example,” Prodan continued, “they rented cinema halls in the US and charged USD $50 a ticket. There were many who wanted to support our local producers, to see a film about us. The Americans said, ‘You’re crazy! Nobody will pay $50! It’s ten or twelve dollars!’” He shrugged. “They sold out everything.”

The power of cinema is what Prodan is attempting to utilise for the betterment of Moldova. “For us it’s very important to spread our culture abroad, the information about our culture,” he said. “Of course, the most important tool in this sense is tourism. So, we would like to invite foreign tourists to Moldova, to visit our country for cultural reasons. And that’s why we want to consolidate our cultural offer here, and to diversify our cultural products.”

Prodan’s first issue is the negotiation of a fundamental cornerstone of European democracies; sovereign government. Despite a nod towards European Union membership in 2022, Moldova has failed to reignite its exchequer’s coffers nor persuade a dwindling workforce to remain, leaving an open debate as to whether it should forego statehood entirely and become an autonomous region of Romania to buy an extra layer of protection from Vladimir Putin’s expansionist policies whilst expediting its EU application.

The central issue in achieving his cultural goals is that young people in Moldova can travel to Romania and expect to earn three to four times what they earn in Moldova. Thus, Prodan’s first mission must be to retain young creatives.

But Sergiu Prodan is nothing if not determined. As the Ministry of Culture, Moldova-Film and the National Cinematography Centre have been fighting to raise Moldova’s international profile; collectively banking on a swathe of young directors, producers, writers, and techs to feel the call of the motherland. 

And even as the conflict in Ukraine creeps ever closer to Moldova’s borders, Prodan remains zen. “We hope that Moldova will not be involved in the war,” he said with a smile. “The situation at the moment is difficult, but it is peaceful.”