SYNOPSIS
The documentary revisits the unresolved question of "Who are the Dacians?" It explores, too, the Roman Emperor Trajan's six-year long two-campaigns against Dacia and its King Decebalus between 101 and 106 AD. The documentary also compares a Communist-era depiction of the Dacian people (Romania's present-day territory) turned into a narrow propagandist view with a more objective-view pieced together by evidence, research, and studies cumulated over many decades.
Dacian Carpathian Mountain fortresses are a UNESCO Heritage Site. The film uses Trajan's column in Rome, also a UNESCO Heritage Site, and its extensive bas-relief depictions combined with illustrations by artist Radu Oltean and contemporary on-location videography to create an artistic interpretation of the events and to cover on-going archaeological research.
This Kogainon Films production is planned for 2011-12 in collaboration with National Geographic Magazine (Washington, DC, and Romania)
The documentary revisits the unresolved question of "Who are the Dacians?" It explores, too, the Roman Emperor Trajan's six-year long two-campaigns against Dacia and its King Decebalus between 101 and 106 AD. The documentary also compares a Communist-era depiction of the Dacian people (Romania's present-day territory) turned into a narrow propagandist view with a more objective-view pieced together by evidence, research, and studies cumulated over many decades.
Dacian Carpathian Mountain fortresses are a UNESCO Heritage Site. The film uses Trajan's column in Rome, also a UNESCO Heritage Site, and its extensive bas-relief depictions combined with illustrations by artist Radu Oltean and contemporary on-location videography to create an artistic interpretation of the events and to cover on-going archaeological research.
This Kogainon Films production is planned for 2011-12 in collaboration with National Geographic Magazine (Washington, DC, and Romania)
PRODUCTION TEAM
Producer: Dan Dimancescu
Co-Directors: Dan Dimancescu & Kyle Brandse
Editor: Kyle Brandse
Original Art: Radu Oltean
Director of Photography: Nora Agapi
Videographers: Nora Agapi, Kyle Brandse, Michael Tran
Script: Dan Weber
Sound & Music: Michael Tran, Tim Lefort
Computer effects: Kyle Brandse, Dan Marino
Diarist: Ronald Otero
Expert Advisors: Mike Carroll, Cristian Gazdac, Ion Grumeza, Ernest Latham, Leonard Velcescu
Production & Technical Assistance: Alexandra Carlsson, Elliot Erwin, Frederik Marmann
Legal Counsel: Ramulescu Law Offices
Editorial Advisors: Cristian Lascu (Ed.) and Domnica Macri (both National Geographic Magazine Romania)
MAKING OF ...
BEHIND THE SCENES (2011-2012)
FOUR VOICES
HISTORY TIME-LINE
BACKGROUND SOURCES
TRAJAN's FORUM (Prof. Packer)
PANORAMA & 1482 DACIA MAP
EQUIPMENT
VIDEO UPDATES:
RADU OLTEAN AT WORK: 1 video) and 2 artwork
ION GRUMEZA (historian)
MICHAEL TRAN (team member)
RONALD OTERO (team member)
FILM CREW AT WORK
HELI SHOTS (Jan 11 and Oct 11)
BEHIND THE SCENES (2011-2012)
FOUR VOICES
HISTORY TIME-LINE
BACKGROUND SOURCES
TRAJAN's FORUM (Prof. Packer)
PANORAMA & 1482 DACIA MAP
EQUIPMENT
VIDEO UPDATES:
RADU OLTEAN AT WORK: 1 video) and 2 artwork
ION GRUMEZA (historian)
MICHAEL TRAN (team member)
RONALD OTERO (team member)
FILM CREW AT WORK
HELI SHOTS (Jan 11 and Oct 11)
Nicholas Dimancescu & Radu Oltean discussing image selections; Oltean illustration below of Trajan's column
Left: aerial view of 2000 yr-old Dacian mountain fortress ruins at Blidaru in the Carpathian Mnts
Left: aerial view of 2000 yr-old Dacian mountain fortress ruins at Blidaru in the Carpathian Mnts
Left: Illustration by Radu Oltean depicting the inaugural ceremony of Trajan's Column in Rome in 113 AD.
Rt: Photo of column moulds at the National History Museum in Bucharest and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and column reproductions at the Museum of Roman Civilization, Rome.
See: 360 degree photo of Trajan Column in Rome
Rt: Photo of column moulds at the National History Museum in Bucharest and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and column reproductions at the Museum of Roman Civilization, Rome.
See: 360 degree photo of Trajan Column in Rome
Trajan's Column is a "towering shaft (28.9 meters on a pedestal of 6.2 meters) in the middle of Rome, with its cartoon of over 2,500 figures twisting around it for 200 meters... Despite nearly a century of faultfinding, it cannot be denied that the Column’s spiral tells a story. But what story?" Wheeler 2005
NOTE:
Copies were made under Napoleon III (1861-1862) and displayed in London Victoria & Albert Museum (1864), Rome at the Museo della Civiltà Romana, and Paris at the Musée des Antiquités Nationales à Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
Archaeologist Emil Panaitescu (1885-1958), director of the Romanian School in Rome from 1929 to 1940, initiated the making of a copy of the column and won government support to make moulded copies. The work was carried out by master crafstmen from the Vatican under the direction of Francesco Mercatalli started in 1939. The work was completed in the midst of WW-II in 1943.
It was only in 1967 that the moulds were brought to Romania and eventually housed in the National History Museum in Bucharest.
NOTE:
Copies were made under Napoleon III (1861-1862) and displayed in London Victoria & Albert Museum (1864), Rome at the Museo della Civiltà Romana, and Paris at the Musée des Antiquités Nationales à Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
Archaeologist Emil Panaitescu (1885-1958), director of the Romanian School in Rome from 1929 to 1940, initiated the making of a copy of the column and won government support to make moulded copies. The work was carried out by master crafstmen from the Vatican under the direction of Francesco Mercatalli started in 1939. The work was completed in the midst of WW-II in 1943.
It was only in 1967 that the moulds were brought to Romania and eventually housed in the National History Museum in Bucharest.
"DECODING DACIA: Romania's Lost Heritage"
A feature documentary in production 2011-12
A feature documentary in production 2011-12