OUR DAILY BREAD (2022) – documentary film online

Directed by: Șerban Georgescu
Cast: Irina Sorescu, Corina Munteanu and the employees of the MamaPan bakery (Andreea, Luminița, Adriana)
Producer: Șerban Georgescu (Kolectiv Film), Oana Muntean (co-producer – Victoria Film)
Cinematography: Bogdan Slăvescu, Daniel Oprea
Editing: Șerban Georgescu
Sound: Alex Alexandru
Year: 2022
Category: Feature film
Genre: Documentary
Duration: 70 minutes

11,040 – Cinepub viewers

PLOT SUMMARY

MamaPan is an artisan bakery practicing social economy. A small business that makes a huge difference in the lives of the women who are part of it. Two of them stubbornly fight to keep the business going. Their employees, all single mothers, do their best to change their lives: a former homeless, a Roma illiterate and a financially struggling mother of three.

Our Daily Bread is a story about all the unseen heroines that form the backbone of our society. Still striving, determined to set an example for their children and find the daily motivation to change their lives.

A documentary with a full feminine cast and a director that takes it upon himself to represent the judgmental society that surrounds them.

FESTIVALS

• 2023 – FIPADOC
• 2023 – Astra Film Festival
• 2024 – Râșnov FFIR

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

“It is a very personal documentary, and we are fortunate that the women who are its protagonists allowed us to discover them. They opened up to us — a group of men — even though the men in their life stories are often the aggressors, the anti-heroes. The relationship was built on trust over time. At the beginning of the filming, they were much more reserved and discreet with the details, but with each day we spent together, they granted us the privilege of entering the intimacy and reality of their life stories. Their vulnerability in front of the camera is where their strength lies — and, implicitly, the strength of this documentary,” – Șerban Georgescu

CRITICAL REVIEWS:

“Although it leaves unexplained the reasons for the departure, from one day to the next, of two of the three employees—departures about which we cannot tell whether they are caused by vile Capitalism ruthlessly exploiting them, by their family situations, or simply by their own habits, impossible to domesticate through the re-education attempted by their employers (nor do we know the nature of the business ownership, although that too is relevant for the story)—the documentary utters the magic formula: social enterprise. It is a badge nicely pinned to the chest of the investment, without those making the investment receiving anything in return, simply so that Romania may be able to report favorable, obligatory statistics to Brussels. It is a badge that benefits only the department printing cards bearing such labels—labels without substance—on the Ministry of Labour’s printer. The rest of the work, the reporting, is done by the enterprises honored with such coats of arms. So, not only does the state do nothing in exchange for the social service provided by these private entities, generous and deeply involved, but—this is where the flour gets to your head—it even competes unfairly with them, through salary policies unattainable for enterprises so beautifully decorated. On this matter, the director must not allow himself to be discouraged, discouraging others and inviting them into the familiar Romanian lethargy; rather, he should say that Romania risks, as a result of this passivity, being sanctioned in Brussels by the European Commission, if someone were to formally notify the latter through a petition to which even the trailer of this film could be attached.” — Iulia Vucmanovici, agenda.liternet.ro

“Difficult — sometimes painfully difficult—other times with desperate efforts and despair worn like a constant burden, the business managed to stay afloat. Of course, always just one step away from sinking — from shutting down. Inspiring and fascinating, isn’t it? To feel almost every day the urge to drop everything and run, and yet to endure, with the stubbornness of a truly Christian altruism.” — Bogdan Burileanu, agenda.liternet.ro

“The title took me almost a century back, reminding me of King Vidor’s 1934 drama of the same name. Not much longer in duration, the black-and-white film follows several strangers who end up forming a phalanstery, using their various skills to create and sustain an internal economy. It seems that 90 years ago, bread baking was one of the activities that brought a community together. Just as it does today.” – Oana Balaci, agenda.liternet.ro

“Although all the testimonies are interesting, what truly resonates with the audience are the tragedies experienced by the employees, especially those of Roma ethnicity. One woman’s experience with her abusive / alcoholic father and the death of her siblings due to drug use is unhappily mirrored by the other’s life on the streets. Their coherent and lucid accounts, occasionally sprinkled with aphorisms, could make you believe that Adriana and Luminița are educated women, not illiterate ones who used to sell flowers—or, in the latter’s case, even beg—to survive. The shame regarding their past immoral activities can be read in their eyes, but also the pride of working honestly, whether scrubbing the floors or kneading bread.” – Oana Balaci, agenda.liternet.ro

“One of the workers is raising three children in a one-room apartment with extremely poor living conditions. Another is a former beggar (she breaks into tears as she recounts her past life). One woman’s brother dies during the filming, a victim of drug addiction.” – Andrei Gorzo, andreigorzoblog.wordpress.com

TRIVIA:

• Șerban Georgescu has over 20 years of experience in documentary filmmaking and advertising, working with prestigious clients and some of the most important players in the industry. Since 2006, he has collaborated consistently with production companies from Norway, Denmark, and Switzerland, on several documentaries awarded multiple international prizes.
• Filming for this project took place over the course of more than three years, making it the longest production period of any documentary directed by Șerban Georgescu.
• “Our Daily Bread” is a Kolectiv production, distributed by Follow Art Distribution, made with the support of the Romanian National Film Center (CNC).
• Șerban Georgescu stated for observatorcultural.ro: “In general, I am concerned with the same themes that concern most of us: family, economy, human relationships. These are themes without a beginning or an end, universally relevant from the dawn of history to today — the same, yet with different meanings and perspectives for each of us”
• In the same interview, the director says: “The male character in the film is myself — the director who, after doing commercial work, comes in and starts asking questions. I allowed myself to take on this role of the devil’s advocate and to voice the questions we have all heard around us, so many times. A mother with three children? Well, who told her to have so many?… Have you ever seen a Roma person working?!… Why doesn’t she get another job if the money isn’t enough? I am convinced that my brutal interventions in the film are welcome and even necessary, especially in a landscape in which everyone is trying to be politically correct, but very few truly succeed.”
• Irina Sorescu, the founder of the bakery, who stubbornly continues to believe that social economy can function — no matter how much the local system contradicts her — stated: “These are a few years of my life, with struggles, tears of sadness or joy, and gratitude — all condensed in just a few dozen minutes. It is personal, but it is also about being together; it is about courage but also about fears — yet above all, it is about not giving up.”
• Corina, one of the bakery’s employees, told zilesinopti.ro: “At first, I was suspicious and distrustful, but then the human quality of Șerban’s team convinced me that the intention behind the documentary was one of goodwill, so I accepted the idea.”
• Andreea and Luminița, in the same interview, add: “It’s about the reality of a bakery and the lives of three simple women who started from zero in this trade.”
• And Oana shares the same view: “It is a film about strong women, about trust, about the courage to fight even when you feel that life is bringing you to your knees.”
• Statistics reveal only a small part of the harsh reality these women face. In Romania, 7% of households are single-parent families, according to Eurostat. As in most European countries, the mother is the one who raises the child or children, even in the absence of a partner.

LINES:

• “When you’ve invested so much — so much energy, so much effort — into a story… It’s very hard for me to even consider giving up. It would feel like everything I’ve done so far, all this struggle, would have been in vain if I were to quit at some point.” — Irina Sorescu
• “I started this business with zero experience in entrepreneurship, having worked my entire life in the social field.” — Irina Sorescu
• “We created the bakery because we wanted to offer jobs to women facing difficult life situations.” — Irina Sorescu
• “We brought solidarity and humanity into workplace relationships and, more than that, into our relationships with clients and partners.” — Irina Sorescu
• “With an average salary, you can’t even afford a €20,000 one-room apartment — the kind others call a ‘ghetto.’ ” — Andreea
• “Maybe I could forget my own beatings, but I can’t forget my mother’s.” — Luminița
• “Given the circumstances, we have to manage somehow.” — Corina Munteanu
• “I initially came here just to teach the girls how to make bread, that’s all. I had no idea what I was getting into. And little by little, I understood what this was about.” — Corina Munteanu

ARTICLES:

• Our Daily Bread, directed by Șerban Georgescu, in cinemas starting March 15 – iqads.ro
• Interview with the protagonists – zilesinopti.ro
• Our Daily Bread, in cinemas starting March 15 – radioromaniacultural.ro
• The bitter story of our daily bread, when kneaded by women in hardship – hotnews.ro
• International premiere at FIPADOC –aarc.ro
• Our Daily Bread, in cinemas starting March 15 – jurnalul.ro
• “I wanted it to be a deeply feminist film” – observatorcultural.ro
• The documentary Our Daily Bread on the big screens starting March 15 – radioromania.ro
• On documentary, “dramateinment,” and the routine of spectacular sensationalism – agenda.liternet.ro
• Review: Our Daily Bread at FIPADOC – ziarulmetropolis.ro
• Review: Power by the Kilo – agenda.liternet.ro
• Review: European bread can be wholegrain, never black –agenda.liternet.ro
• Review from Astra Film Festival 2023 – agenda.liternet.ro
• Archive: Our Daily Bread, andreigorzoblog.wordpress.com
• The documentary beyond script, image and “other demons” – radioromaniacultural.ro

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