Modern day Babel Tower – an observational trip to Eastern Europe in a film by Pavel Cuzuioc

The fifth edition of the MOLDOX International Film Festival brings, for the first time in the Republic of Moldova, the new film of the Moldovan director Pavel Cuzuioc, the documentary feature “Please Hold the Line” – an audiovisual allegory on communication -this film follows cable technicians in four countries – Moldova, Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria – and their customers, the audience being offered the possibility to get a glimpse into their lives and see their problems and perspectives on the outerworld.

“[…] Please Hold the Line’s strength as a stealth art film – its observant camera acting like a tuning fork, picking up strange echoes and vibrations.” – Cineuropa.org

“[The film] is not concerned with ‘digital natives’ but the elderly and those dependent on technology to stay in touch with the wider world, but also depressed by the often Kafkaesque nature of red tape involved.” – Filmuforia.co.uk

Pavel Cuzuioc: “We like to think of communication devices as a people binder. Yet, with a larger variety of communication tools than ever before, each human being continues to insist on his personality and perspective, social disintegration is as strong as ever. “Please hold the line” is about people who fix communication defects – like cable technicians fixing a tv, phone or a modem – as well as about their customers. A palette of human typologies. I am interested in the human being, with its everyday struggles. It is these individual universes that fascinate me the most.”

Pavel Cuzuioc was born in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova. In 2000, he moved to Vienna where he followed courses on film directing at the Vienna Film Academy. His films were screened at various international film festivals such as Locarno Film Festival, HotDocs, Clermont Ferrand ISFF, Black Night IFF, DocAviv FF, Transylvania IFF, FIPA, Cottbus FF, etc.

“Please Hold the Line” premiered at Sheffield Doc Fest in UK, selected in the “Into the World” category, which presents films by essential directors with essential themes that take varied approaches to exploring our past, present and collective future.

Follow www.moldoxfestival.com and facebook.com/MoldoxFestival – soon we will present the entire series of the best films, screened at the 5th edition of the warmest documentary film festival!

Book the dates! Cahul: September 9-13, Chișinău: September 17-19

MOLDOX International Film Festival for Social Change was founded in 2016 and is exclusively dedicated to non-fiction films with significant social relevance. MOLDOX was created as an international film festival focused on current social issues, accessible to everyone, this is why entrance to the festival and the participation at workshops and master classes is free of charge.

The festival combines the mission of bringing cultural events to the local population by screening documentary films, with the mission of training new filmmakers, interested in creating documentaries with strong social impact, through MOLDOX Lab.