The Film

In the 1980's, Romania's communist regime reached its most drastic stage. Ceausescu became obsessed with repaying Western loans and with building himself a palace of unprecedented proportions. TV was reduced to two hours of broadcast, focused mostly on praising Ceausescu and the regime's achievements.

 

It was then that Irina Margareta Nistor dubbed over 5,000 foreign films that entered the country illegally and were distributed on the black market. Her husky and high-pitched voice became the symbol of freedom. Chuck Norris vs. Communism follows the story of the tapes, the lives that were touched by them and the people who made it possible for Romanians to escape their harsh reality through the spectacular world of film.

 

This feature documentary will use interviews, film footage, animation and archive footage. It revolves around Irina Nistor as its main character, whilst using many other voices to piece together the story of the tapes and the larger context of communist Romania and its journey into a new capitalist era.

 

Our Story

 

I started working on this project in November 2011 after meeting Irina in London at a film festival. Seeing her reminded me of the first films I watched growing up in the 80s and of how important her voice had been for me and the people around me during those years.  

Since November, Irina became actively involved in the project and is amazingly helpful with pre-production. Two producers came on board, Mara Adina and Dara Carroll, joined by Oana Crisan, our AD and sound recordist and our very talented DOP, Jose Ruiz.

 

Production will start on the 12th of March in Bucharest and we will travel the whole country collecting people's stories. The film will include contributions from those involved in the making of the tapes, as well as Romanian actors, filmmakers, politicians, historians and many of those who fell in love with film through Irina's voice.

We will then spend two weeks in April at the Romanian National Television's archive, looking for all the material that will help us reconstruct 80's Romania in the film. Post-production will start in May, completion being scheduled for July.

 

Join us on this great journey and help us reconstruct a fascinating moment in Eastern Europe's history.

What We Need & What You Get

We need a lot, but we're only asking for a little. We're hoping to raise $3000. This would cover some of our production costs - equipment hire, transport, accommodation and crew fees. All crew has agreed to work on fees below industry standards because of their love for the project, but we still need to pay them a bit.
To date we have raised some of budget through private funding and we are still working on a few strategies to raise the post-production budget, with the bulk of it going towards archive costs.

There are some pretty great rewards and perks if you get involved. We are offering postcards, posters, CDs of the original soundtrack, DVDs, the opportunity to take part in the production in Bucharest, invitations to the premiere and after-party and even IMDB credits.   
We can offer you a platform to promote your brand or association if you become an Executive Producer. You will be included in the promotional material for the film which adds up to 4 months of free publicising and your name/logo will appear in the final credits of the films.

Other Ways You Can Help

Spread the word, use your Facebook page and email contacts to help share the news, recommend this project to friends, associates and organizations and send them the link to our Indiegogo campaign page. Stay in touch with us, "Like" & follow our Facebook page and we'll keep up to date with the behind the scenes production events. Contact us on vernonfilms@gmail.com. We want and appreciate your feedback so all comments and insights welcome, we are all ears!