There is land destroyed by man. A place with no future where no one would want to return. Apart from one woman who seeks for her paradise.

The small Romanian village located in the isolated Transylvanian valley has been sinking into toxic sludge for decades. It’s constantly flooded by increasing mud from a nearby copper mine. Thousands of tons of waste flow into the valley every day. Near the tailings pond, mostly old widows and one younger woman named Valerica live there. Valerica ran away from her family and moved into an abandoned house inherited from her father. She drew a line behind her past and now she’s trying to live anew. In the surreal ruins of the landscape, Valerica finds her private paradise on Earth.

Valerica’s neighbors are the elderly widows who inhabit the valley area: they live in close contact with the tailings pond and stubbornly refuse to leave. Valerica helps them with work around their houses for a little money or just for food; she makes a living as a day laborer. Her best friend in the valley is Maria Prata, to whom Valerica goes to help on a regular basis. These two women have a relationship almost like mother and daughter: they take care of and keep an eye on each other.

The people from the village are gradually disappearing; either naturally or unwillingly. Every year, the level of mud (caused by mining) rises by one meter and floods more and more houses. Through five years of patient observation, our film follows Valerica’s story and its twists. Around 2025, the mud will come to the house of Maria Prata too, and she will have to make her final decision. Valerica, on the other hand, refuses to leave the area, despite the fact that one day she might end up all alone there. Like the last woman on Earth.

About the Filmmakers

Director/Producer

Katarína Jonisová

Katarína recently graduated from Documentary studio at The Academy Of Performing Arts in Bratislava. As a filmmaker she’s been working on short films and TV-series, her documentaries "Looking for an elephant footstep“ „Fire report“ or "Titanic in the sky" were shown at several world festivals (WINNER Minsk IFF 2020 / WINNER Festival Áčko 2019: Critics Award, Audience Award, Best Documentary / WINNER Film Night at the Castle 2019 / SELECTED 43rd International Short Film Festival in Drama, Greece 2020 / SELECTED Sevastopol International Doc & TV Film Festival "Won Together" / 2020 SELECTED - 24th IFF ZOOM – ZBLIŻENIA. Katarina has been co-filming and producing the Geamăna film together with Miro Jelok since 2020.

Director/Producer

Miro Jelok

Miro Jelok graduated from Documentary studio at the Academy Of Performing Arts in Bratislava. Before that, he studied at the Studio of Screenwriting and Dramaturgy. Miro made a 52-minute TV documentary about women crossing the Schengen border, looking for a better life in Europe ("Promised land, please, get out!") which also had its theatrical premiere. His short story titled „Shhh!“ was part of the feature-length film "Slovakia 2.0" He was selected for this film as a promising director and found himself in the company of the 10 best directors in Slovakia. The film premiered in Warsaw FF 2014 and was officially selected in Cottbus FF 2014, Art Film Fest 2014, Kiev Molodist 2014 etc. Miro Jelok works as a director, dramaturge, film editor and a budding producer in VINȚAFILMS