The Film
For the first time ever all the participants involved in the secret mission that sparked the Romanian Revolution have agreed to talk.
 |
|
Romanian
dictator Nicolae Ceausescu He ruled Romania with an iron fist. |
It began with a secret mission that started out in Montreal, Canada, in March of 1989. Two French-Canadians, former Quebec Cabinet Minister Michel Clair and Radio-Canada reporter Réjean Roy were sent to Timisoara to secretly record a TV interview with Tőkés, a leading member of Romania's large Hungarian minority. What transpired afterwards was a cat-and-mouse game that lasted for two days in the western Romanian province of Transylvania between the two French-Canadians, three Hungarian nationals who were their assistants, and the Securitate who followed their every move.
And when the Securitate finally moved in the story of how those tapes got out, were broadcast, and forced the hand of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu to evict Tõkés, has never been told before.
The results were horrendous - more than 1100 people died in the fighting that continued till December 25, 1989.
The film also reveals the names of former informers and spies thanks to Securitate files now being released. And former Securitate Colonel Radu Tinu reveals how he monitored foreign agents in the country, trained agents himself, and he explains the methods he used to combat dissident László Tõkés.
Locations filmed: Toronto, Montreal (Canada), New York City, Washington D.C. (USA), Strasbourg (France), Budapest, Érd and Székesfehérvár (Hungary), Timisoara, Cluj-Napoca, Oradea and Bucharest (Romania).
The world premiere of the Hungarian-language version of the documentary was on the 20th anniversary of the Romanian Revolution: December 15, 2009.