Drowned

Radu Petrescu, a Romanian dissident and experienced dishwasher, crossed the Danube River five times in his search for freedom. He found more than that.

In 1981, newly arrived in America, Radu became unexpectedly wealthy and decided to fulfill an impossible dream: write and direct a feature film, despite having no experience, little understanding of filmmaking, and only the vaguest grasp of how America worked.

The result was Justice Farm, a baffling, forgotten thriller shot in Virginia with an eccentric cast of aspiring actors, reluctant friends, and local oddballs. The film was screened exactly once, vanished into obscurity, and its director returned to washing dishes.

Decades later, a Brazilian-American filmmaker discovers the only surviving copy in the Library of Congress and sets out to reconstruct the story behind its creation. Through interviews conducted orally - or, on one occasion, through mime - along with memories, contradictions, and long-buried regrets, an extraordinary portrait emerges: one of failed dreams, unlikely friendships, quiet loneliness, and the strange ways people continue to affect one another long after they are gone.

Written in the style of an oral history and documentary memoir, "Drowned - The story of the lost film Justice Farm" is a tragicomic, postmodern novel about cinema, immigration, memory, the things we leave behind, and the beautiful absurdity of being human.