It could be You!

Documentary series

Part of a larger project called “Homeless People, Stories of Bucharest”, it aims at a journalistic and humanitarian dimension to give an introduction in the lives of homeless people in Bucharest. It brings to the fore the faces of unknown people who live outside of everyday normality, opening a dialogue…

RADU CALOMFIRESCU, 50

“It never occurred to me that I would become a homeless person. I had a house, a life, a family, I had everything a normal man could wish for. I believe I am the only one to be blamed for what I became and I regret absolutely everything I’ve done from the day I was born until this very moment”.

ION B RLĂDEANU, 70

“I never had a house of my own. But I lived in other people’s houses. I was a grave digger, I was a warden at the House of the People, I was also a writer chiseling marble. Now, I’m an international film-maker. My life has been like a movie”.

GEORGE IVASCANU, 44

“In the morning, after I wake up, the first thing I do is go to the North Railway Station. There, I get my cigarette butts, my coffees and my food. I can manage just fine with the leftovers of those who go to or come from the train. I don’t even need one leu”.

MIȘUȚĂ GEORGE, 58

“I prefer to be on the street rather than end up in a night shelter. The most dubious people go there. At all times you take the risk of being left trouser-less, coatless or shoeless”.

HAJDU MARIA-IREN, 55

RADU MIRCEA, 60

“On Timișoara Boulevard, there is that big store, at the junction with Brașov Street. In order to warm up in winters, we used to go there. Usually we went to the Diverta book shop at 10am, when it opened, and we stayed there until the closing time. We used to read a lot of books”.

NICULAIE NICULESCU, 58

“PAFA means Adult People Without Homes. In this segment, one can find a large human range of different professions, of people having different diplomas, so we’re not really the scum of society. We form the homeless elite”.

CHIRIAC OANA ADRIANA, 28

“When I had a house, my life was different. I wasn’t going hungry, my husband wasn’t sick either. Now we sleep on styrofoam, we don’t have a bed and I carry the water in canisters from the cemetery.”.

MIHAI CHERSECANU, 36

“If you are from the foster home, you don’t have friends, you don’t have brothers, you don’t have parents, you don’t have a thing. You’re by yourself. I really want to have a family. To sit down at the table with my wife and children, to laugh with them, to be able to say good night to them.”.

CRISTINEL DRĂGHICI, 52

“A house means a great deal to me. It is a personal and necessary place. A place where I can be myself”.

MĂNĂILĂ CONSTANTIN, 62

“I sleep next to a manhole cover because it’s warmer there. I have two duvets to cover myself with. In the morning, I hear the passers-by and I wake up quickly so that they don’t see me”.

LIVIU MARCU, 61

“If I had to go home I want to at least have a dime in my pocket to be able to say: “hey son, lets have a beer together! Or, hey son, from me let’s go shopping in town to buy you a suit, a pair of shoes”, or I don’t know whatever he would desire. So I feel like a parent for a minute or two. That’s all I wish: to experience a few moments of being a parent”.

MĂRGINEANU ION, 58

“I live in an abandoned car, in the Drumul Taberei neighborhood. I’ve got hold of two mattresses, some blankets and a pillow. At least I’m out of the rain.(sadly Mr. Margineanu passed during the production of this documentary. May he rest in peace”.

MIHAI GEORGE, 75

“I’ve got this habit: each night at midnight I say a prayer. I pray to God so that He’d be a bit kinder to me”.

LAMBRU MARIANA, 48

“I worked for a while for the green space services, in the Floreasca Park and I was sleeping on a bench in the locker room. But, at one point, that became impossible. They told me it wasn’t a sleeping room. And that was it”.

Every Little Helps!

If you would like to get involved

You can:
-donate money, food or clothing
-volunteer your time
-offer jobs
-shelter if you can