DEAR DAD follows Matei Oltean, a high-profile architect from Bucharest, who needs to attend a funeral in Buckie, in the North of Scotland. Matei is, at first glance, a bit of a cold fish, but as events unfold, he confronts his own trauma to become the man he needs to be for his wife and their soon-to-be-born child. 

It is a story about loss, grief, childhood trauma, and the need to break the cycle and reinvent oneself.

When I started working on the screenplay, I planned to construct a story inspired by Romanian filmmakers. But Romanian filmmakers don’t fit in one box. Radu Jude is radically different to Cristian Mungiu. Then, the story quickly became a thing of its own mostly because I have had most of the events in the back of my head for some time, even before I considered Romanian cinema as a source.

I visited Buckie, a northern fishing town back in 2013, and the chapel memorial for the men lost at sea had such an impact on me that I was still thinking about it a decade later. I knew I had to write a story that included this place. I needed a reason to include it, as people who get their names on the roll of honour must be from Buckie and have died at sea. This is how the story began. A young man died. His estranged father comes to the funeral.

However, making the protagonist Romanian comes from my interest in Romanian films. I had to build my character further: the very first draft was just a man going to Buckie for the funeral of the son he never knew he had. By constantly asking why, moving backwards, and following peer feedback, Matei’s background got deeper.

Dear Dad therefore comes from the fusion of two ideas: the funeral in Buckie and the Romanian father.

The first draft, written in English and Romanian (with translations), is completed. Now start the rereads and rewrites to improve it.  The aim is to have it made into a feature film.

Inspirations and Excerpts

Click on the pictures to read a few lines from the screenplay