“Flags Cut in the Middle” is every Immigrant Story

Flags Cut in the Middle” is a short film produced by World Independent Films. The second you click the video on Kickstarter you see a girl riding the New York subway. Moment after, we go back 7 years while the character was in Romania. We understand from the first dialog that she got a fake passport to immigrate in the United States. While this is a wrong thing to do, somehow we like her and really want her to succeed. All we know is that she is taking a cargo boat to get to US and a guy named ‘Alex’ is waiting for her to pass the border. This is one of the movies that if you see the trailer you have to see the whole movie and find out what happens to the character while in US. Here you can see the Kickstarter video for “Flags Cut in the Middle”.

The writer and director of this project who is also the protagonist of this short film, Ondina Frate said that her desire to direct came while writing the script “Flags Cut in the Middle”.”At that point, I knew that the only way to accurately share my stories with the rest of the world was if I wrote, directed and produced my own work. The script “Flags Cut in the Middle” means a lot to me because it speaks directly to a part of my life during Romania’s communist era. The Romanian Revolution took place in 1989, when I was 7 years old. Though still a child, the event impacted the country and myself greatly. Twenty-three years later, I find myself needing to share that story in “Flags Cut in the Middle”. The main protagonist, Natalia Georgescu leaves Romania after the revolution in search for a better life and immigrates illegally to the United States. Her parents have died in the Revolution so she is left alone with nothing to hold on to, we find out from Ondina’s description on Kickstarter. This campaign is also featured in Film Industry Network.

Why did you name your movie “Flags Cut in the Middle”? “During the Revolution, Romanians were symbolically asking the government for democracy by cutting the communist coat of arms out of the flags. Therefore, all the flags being waved by a sea of people had this hole in the middle. It felt as if the people were cutting out the flags’ hearts, cutting out communism’s heart.” The script shows both a humanitarian side, as well as a political side. The humanitarian side is the lead character herself, Natalia Georgescu, through her actions. The political side illustrates that in 2014 people are still restricted by a visa and passport for travel and life in a different country than the one they were born in. We believe that we are free but we are not. Natalia is not free. Her dream is to be free and live in a free country. In my script I want to explore the idea of why so many immigrants want to live the “American dream” to the point where they leave behind their own lives, families, and past. That is how “Flags Cut in the Middle” came to life. The script shows the exploration of the idea of freedom and search for personal truth and validation in a specific political and economic environment. I can only write truthfully about my own life and experience, about the things that I have seen and lived. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants would find themselves in Natalia’s story. “What I enjoy most about the creative process is the constant challenge”, says Ondina. “You know where you would like to be, but it is about the journey to get there. Creativity thrives where there are challenges. I can look up to the Women in Film who worked through the challenges and were successful in producing and directing their dreams. I will be one of them.” We can only which her good luck and to reach her goal. I would love to see this movie done and what’s happening to Natalia, the main character. Support women in film tell their stories!