SYNOPSIS

The documentary revisits the unresolved question of "Who were the Dacians?" It focuses on the Roman Emperor Trajan's six-year long two military campaigns against Dacia and its King Decebal between 101 and 106 AD. The documentary is not a literal history but an attempot to link past (who were the Dacians) to the present (what is the legacy) visible in the core regions of the Dacian Kingdom surrounding Sarmizgetusa, its center of power and sanctuary.


Dacian Carpathian Mountain fortresses are a UNESCO Heritage Site. The film uses Trajan's column in Rome, also a UNESCO Heritage Site, and its extensive bas-relief depictions combined with illustrations by artist Radu Oltean and contemporary on-location videography to create an artistic interpretation of the events and to cover on-going archaeological research.

This Kogainon Films production is planned for 2011-12 in collaboration with National Geographic Magazine (Washington-DC, and Romania)


MAKING OF ...

BEHIND THE SCENES (2011-2012)

FOUR VOICES

3D ANIMATIONS

HISTORY TIME-LINE

BACKGROUND SOURCES

TRAJAN's FORUM (Prof. Packer)

PANORAMA & 1482 DACIA MAP

EQUIPMENT

VIDEO UPDATES:
RADU OLTEAN AT WORK: 1 video) and 2 artwork
ION GRUMEZA (historian)
MICHAEL TRAN (team member)
RONALD OTERO (team member)
FILM CREW AT WORK
HELI SHOTS (Jan 11 and Oct 11)

Nicholas Dimancescu & Radu Oltean discussing image selections; Oltean illustration below of Trajan's column
Left: aerial view of 2000 yr-old Dacian mountain fortress ruins at Blidaru in the Carpathian Mnts
Left: Illustration by Radu Oltean depicting the inaugural ceremony of Trajan's Column in Rome in 113 AD.
Rt: Photo of column moulds at the National History Museum in Bucharest and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and column reproductions at the Museum of Roman Civilization, Rome.

See: 360 degree photo of Trajan Column in Rome

Trajan's Column is a "towering shaft (28.9 meters on a pedestal of 6.2 meters) in the middle of Rome, with its cartoon of over 2,500 figures twisting around it for 200 meters... Despite nearly a century of faultfinding, it cannot be denied that the Column’s spiral tells a story. But what story?" Wheeler 2005

NOTE:

Copies were made under Napoleon III (1861-1862) and displayed in London Victoria & Albert Museum (1864), Rome at the Museo della Civiltà Romana, and Paris at the Musée des Antiquités Nationales à Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

Archaeologist Emil Panaitescu (1885-1958), director of the Romanian School in Rome from 1929 to 1940, initiated the making of a copy of the column and won government support to make moulded copies. The work was carried out by master crafstmen from the Vatican under the direction of Francesco Mercatalli started in 1939. The work was completed in the midst of WW-II in 1943.
It was only in 1967 that the moulds were brought to Romania and eventually housed in the National History Museum in Bucharest.
"DECODING DACIA: Trajan's Invasion 101-106 AD"
A feature documentary in production 2011-12

PRODUCTION TEAM

Producer: Dan Dimancescu
Co-Directors: Dan Dimancescu & Kyle Brandse
Editor: Kyle Brandse
Original Art: Radu Oltean
Director of Photography: Nora Agapi
Videographers: Nora Agapi, Kyle Brandse, Michael Tran
Script: Dan Dimancescu & Kyle Brandse
Sound & Music: Michael Tran, Tim Lefort
Computer effects: Kyle Brandse, Dan Marino
Production Assistant: Ronald Otero
Editorial Advisors: Cristian Lascu (Ed.) and Domnica Macri (both National Geographic Magazine Romania)
Expert Advisors: Mike Carroll, Cristian Gazdac, Ion Grumeza, Ernest Latham, Leonard Velcescu
Production & Technical Assistance: Alexandra Carlsson, Elliot Erwin, Frederik Marmann
Legal Counsel: Ramulescu Law Offices