Ten year-old Totonel lives in the Ferentari ghetto in Bucharest. While his mother is serving a jail sentence for drug dealing, Toto and his older sisters Andreea and Ana share their lives with a host of uncles, neighbors, and drug users. Toto’s only escape is a support center where he catches up on his spotty education – and hip-hop dance. His teenage sisters are themselves finding their way in life with varying degrees of success.
Shot in an unforgivingly intimate verite, with minimal interventions, and edited into an honest and emotional narrative, the film offers unprecedented access to life in the Ferentari ghetto, as well as to the revolving door between jails, courthouses, and drug dens. Director Alexander Nanau (Life According to Ion B., 2009 international Emmy-winner), has a privileged relationship with Toto’s sister Andreea, who filmed some of the key scenes which emotionally anchor this film about family and making your own way in the world.
Although it premiered only last fall, Alexander Nanau’s film has already had an impressive festival trajectory and has quickly become one of the most awarded documentaries coming out of Romania in recent years.
The documentary has been "adopted" by the Policy Center for Roma and Minorities.
