Deportation story screened in central Chișinău: “Siberia in bones” film, free for all
On Sunday, July 20, citizens are invited to remember a painful part of national history by watching the documentary film "Siberia in bones." Admission to the event is free in Parliament Square.
The outdoor screening is organized by the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and the OWH studio. The documentary, directed by Leontina Vatamanu, will begin at 8:30 p.m. in the square of the parliamentary institution.
The documentary film “Siberia in bones” highlights the tragedy of the Bassarabian deportations to Siberia that occurred on the night of July 6-7, 1949—a shocking moment in the history of the Republic of Moldova. For the production of the film, testimonies were gathered from four survivors of the deportations, who share their painful experiences and the traumas they endured in exile.
The film's scenes are enhanced by dramatic reenactments performed by actors and children, which convey the emotional and profound impact of being forcibly separated from home, family, and freedom.
Director Leontina Vatamanu, a descendant of three generations of deportees, takes a deeply personal approach to this theme, with one of the film's protagonists being her own mother, Elena Curecheru-Vatamanu.
The film was released to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the July 1949 deportations and reconstructs the harsh realities of the Siberian Gulag through true stories that illustrate the profound human suffering inflicted by Stalinist totalitarian repression.
The mass deportation that took place from July 6 to 9, 1949, was the largest in the current territory of the Republic of Moldova. The operation involved 11,281 families, totalling 35,796 displaced individuals, of whom 11,889 were children, 14,033 were women, and 9,864 were men.
