Production Company: Radio Romania. Author: Maria Manolescu Borșa. Director & Sound engineer: Mihnea Chelaru. Producer: Oana Cristea Grigorescu.

Synopsis

The pretext of great granny's 100 anniversary is a perfect opportunity to revisit the many folded facets of Greater Romania's historical truths, by analogy to the asperities and latent conflicts of any family. Great grandmother's house, described as an old radio, tunes in to the frequencies of family members, but only Toma, the adolescent grandson, can accurately capture the frequency of great-grandmother's message.

Thoughts of the other family members contribute to the recovery of the truths in both large scale and small scale history. Their confrontation mediates the understanding and reconcilliation of the adult grandchildren to the family past, indissolubly related to the country's history: including the legionary episode, the Jewish pogrom, the communist sympathies, the perennial value of national unity, reflected in many family ideals.

The awkward management of great grandmother's birthday is a playful and nuanced scenic commentary on the delicate themes of identity, relationship with one's own ascendants and the legacy of the past, that we cannot choose. The story is viewed through the eyes of Toma, the child, who is asked to imagine an ode for his grandmother's party.