Vasile Ciobanu, one of the first Romanian commercial pilots, was in charge of the Bucharest-Craiova flight that was hijacked by three Romanian officers and diverted to Turkey on 25 July 1947. It was likely the first recorded hijacking of a commercial flight in the history of aviation. The communist regime accused Ciobanu of high treason and espionage, and condemned him to death. The penalty was commuted to 16 years of prison, 5 of them at forced labour.
"Vasile Ciobanu's own destiny has been hijacked," Ichim told FNE. She studied scriptwriting in Romania and worked in television and film for 15 years in Romania and Great Britain, before founding her own company, Hatch Film (www.hatch-films.co.uk, siteunder construction).
Ichim is writing and will co-direct this documentary together with Titus Muntean (Kino Caravan). She is co-producing it together with Hatch Films, and will potentially add a producer. Diana Vidraşcu is the DOP.
Hijacked! - Bunicul meu si primul avion deturnat din lume /Hijacked! My Grandfather and the World's First Hijacking is set for production on January - September 2012, with a budget of 350,000 euro. Ichim and Muntean are now writing a long treatment and plan six months of research. The project received a development scholarship from Greenhouse in 2010 (http://www.ghfilmcentre.org). It was also selected by the EEFA Training Network (http://eefa-eu.org/training-network) for three seminars in Zagreb, Kiev and Tallinn in 2011.
The premiere is planned for December 2012.
Production Information
Ada-Maria Ichim
1 Piata Alba Iulia, Bl H1, Sc 5, ap 135,
Sector 3, Bucuresti, ROMANIA
Phone: +40722 293 292; +44 775 969 7016
www.hatch-films.co.uk (under construction)
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Credits
Director: Ada-Maria Ichim
Titus Muntean
Script: Ada-Maria Ichim
Titus Muntean
DOP: Diana Vidraşcu
