The short film
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Trapped in a horrid, animated asylum, a disabled orphan discovers a beautiful, real world exists outside the gate.
IZIDOR is a short film based on an awakening event in Izidor Ruckel's childhood. Izidor lived in a hidden asylum for eight years where "defective" children were banished and abused in Communist Romania, never setting foot outside. That is, until the day a kind nanny took him home for the night.
THE STAKES
For twenty-four years, Romania's dictator Nicolae Ceausescu pressured families to have at least five children in order to build his army. When the Iron Curtain fell in 1989, Western press found tens of thousands of maltreated children in secret government "hospitals."
IZIDOR gives viewers a glimpse into the life and psyche of an institutionalized child. The stakes are high because Izidor isn't just a fictional character, but a real boy trying to determine what it means to be human. He represents not just Romania's abandoned children, but all vulnerable children, everywhere.
ANIMATION AND LIVE ACTION
The short film utilizes both animation and live action to accentuate the disparity between how institutionalized children experience life compared to children in families. When Izidor spends a day with a family and experiences the love and connection they have, he discovers that belonging is what makes you feel alive.
Izidor's need to belong will resonate with audiences worldwide, moving viewers to address the human rights issues still confronting orphans today.
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