The subject of the film ... şi cel moldovean is a Moldavian Shepherd, who is passing on his craft from father to son as he has always done, even if this requires to discard the wool or to sell the cheese with difficulty. This film is made as a fictive dialog over the territorial border of Romania (specifically, Moldavian Region) and the Republic of Moldova – two regions separated by the Prut river and by history. However, not only is the language in both places the same but also many of the villages on both sides of the river carry the same name and make cheese after the same recipe.

Aurelia Mihai’s video work has been the recipient of numerous prizes and scholarships that include the Video Art Awards Bremen (1997); the ESTAR Scholarship from the Institute for Electronic Arts, Alfred University, New York and the Villa Aurora Scholarship, Los Angeles (2001); the EMARE Scholarship Hull Time Based Arts UK (2004) and the Villa Massimo Rome Scholarship (2007).

“I choose the motif of the Shepherd for his legendary connotation in Romanian culture and also for the fact that inside the European Union this traditional way of breeding sheep does not have any chance of survival. My movie presents the live of shepherds on the both banks of the Prut river in two narrative layers, one visual and one resonant. The images show the archaic culture of Romanian sheep breeding and the traditional craft – the manual trimming of sheep, the milking, skin skinning or the process of making the cheese.

For the Occidental European eye this images appear to be of other times. In the European Union everything is hidden and industrialized and subvention will be given only to those shepherds that have over 50 sheep in their possession.”

2007 In the Open Air, 2005 The Day. It Begins with the Cock and Ends with the Dogs, 2004 Valley of Dreamers, 2003 From Time to Time, 2002 This is the Hour