While trying to help a stranger find her birth mother, a filmmaker is drawn into the shadows of her own family history, uncovering a dark legacy that has loomed over its women. British-Romanian filmmaker Rachel Taparjan sits both in the director’s chair and in front of the camera in her debut film, Something Familiar [+leggi anche:
intervista: Rachel Taparjan
scheda film], which has screened in competition at CPH:DOX.

Cineuropa: As a child, you were adopted from Romania to England. You describe making this film as an act of “self-authorship in the face of a traumatic past”. When did you realise that the camera could become a tool for rewriting your own story, rather than just documenting it?
Rachel Taparjan: I was always inspired by films and directors who used filmmaking in this way. I suppose it was a constant process, but when I was developing the idea of a casting a mother, the possibility of using filmmaking in this way in relation to my own life started to feel attainable and exciting. The notion that I could revive a mother – or the idea of a mother – and offer myself an abundance of feminine energy in my own search process was fantastic. The porous boundary between the real and the imagined became the place where emotion, tension and drama co-existed (both for me and for “the mothers”).

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The film uncovers a pattern of abuse and exploitation across generations of women in your family. How did you navigate the ethical tension between your role as a filmmaker and your position as someone directly implicated in the story you're telling?
Navigating the ethical tension was about maintaining a degree of sovereignty between Rachel as a character and Rachel as a director, but this was further complicated by the fact that I am related to some of the people in the film. It was a tough process. I knew that, ethically, I wanted to do things the right way; I wanted to ensure that anyone sharing personal, intimate or potentially traumatic details about their life had proper support and preparation.

Then there was the consideration of how much I was willing to share about my own life. The dramaturgical devices really helped me – employing creative methods of telling the story, such as having my friends narrate their memories back to me or casting a mother. These techniques helped me to alchemise and incorporate my own difficult experiences, shaping a narrative that I can bear to live with as a person and that I am proud to bring to the world as a director.

Your background as a social worker specialising in trauma-informed practice seems inseparable from this film. Did your professional training ever conflict with your creative instincts during production, or did the two inform each other?
I think my background in social work and therapeutic practice, as well as my research into trauma-informed practice, deeply informed my approach to filmmaking. The trickiest part of making this as an international co-production was bringing everyone together and getting the correct psychological scaffolding in place; this was more of a resource-based challenge (particularly early on in the process) than a creative one. Employing ethics of care and a trauma-informed approach in relation to story-making is not a barrier to great storytelling; it actually enhances it.

The film won the Chicken & Egg Vision Award at Cannes Docs and is now premiering in CPH:DOX's main competition, with theatrical distribution also assured. Do you see festival exposure and a cinema release as essential in order for a film like this to reach adoptees, survivors and the communities who need to see it – or is the personal act of making it already the real victory?
I think bringing a film to cinema audiences is one of the ultimate goals and pleasures for any filmmaker. While there are multiple ways to reach people now, and I want the movie to be accessible in various formats, I think it is particularly significant for adoptees, survivors and these specific communities to see a nuanced, compassionate film that celebrates triumph over adversity on the big screen. But as a filmmaker, I would say that!

As a lover of documentaries, I know how powerful it is to find yourself reflected in a film as part of a shared viewing experience like the cinema – it’s something special. I am excited to see what kinds of discussions the feature generates. This is the kind of movie I wanted and needed when I was growing up.