Ileana

Ileana is the bittersweet story of growing up and losing your innocence through love. It is based on real facts, and telling the story became a necessity for us, not only for depicting a cruel reality of Romanian laws and procedures, but mostly for portraying a strong inspiring female character, frail and innocent on one hand, but capable of unimaginable things on another. Caught between two men, Radu and Rama, Ileana’s choice is beyond deciding her own happiness, as her choice means freedom for the chosen one and betrayal of the other. The story is told from Ileana’s perspective; the camera follows her continuously, and observes her reactions to what she extracts from reality. Not so much hand-held shooting but slow steady-cam movements, so that her journey is always at the edge between reality and dream, in continuous motion. It can be said that realism mixes with surrealism where surrealism is actually just a matter of perception. There will be both professional and non-professional actors, and real locations at the outskirts of Bucharest. At the end of the film, the public should feel as having an intimate insight into Ileana’s dreams and perception, seeing a piece of reality through her eyes and asking themselves: “How far would I go for the one I love?”