Tarzan's Testicles
Sukhum is the capital of Abkhazia: a tiny, unrecognized republic on the shores of the Black Sea. On its highest hill lies a medical institute, established in the 1920s by the Soviet authorities, that carries out research on monkeys. Legend has it that it was created to crossbreed humans and apes to create a hybrid creature. This creature never came into existence, neither did the communist "New Man". Today, both men and monkeys are caged in a territory ravaged by war and decades of cruelty — victims of a failed series of experiments.
Alexandru Solomon emerged as a young director of photography in the early 1990s. Along with filming feature films, he started making documentaries. Solomon was among the first Romanian filmmakers who committed themselves to what was then a compromised genre. Today, he is one of the leading political filmmakers coming out of Romania, and is also active on the international scene.
Solomon's previous works, The Great Communist Bank Robbery, Cold Waves and Kapitalism: Our Secret Recipe, are chilling slices of political history that deal with propaganda, corruption and manipulation. Tarzan’s Testicles premiered in 2017. Alexandru teaches at the Arts University in Bucharest, and is the director of One World Romania Festival.